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Sfoi)!! OTrotobriUffe 


THE STORY OF A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY. 
With frontispiece. i2mo, $1.25. 

THREE BOYS ON AN ELECTRICAL BOAT. i6mo> 
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HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
Boston and New York 


THE STORY OF 

A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 







DICTATED MESSAGES, WHICH ALEXIS RAPIDLY SENT 


THE STORY OF A 
WIRELESS TELEGRAPH 
BOY 


BY 

JOHN TROWBRIDGE 

AUTHOR OF 

“THREE BOYS ON AN ELECTRICAL BOAT” 




BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
dtie Camtirili0e 

1908 



THE STORY OF A WIRELESS 
TELEGRAPH BOY 


CHAPTER I 

FOLLOWED BY SPIES 

In a crowded street of a city on the Volga 
could be seen a number of people hurrying 
to the bank of the river, to embark on a 
steamer about to leave for ports down the 
stream. The prospective passengers were 
a motley crowd : merchants, with long 
beards flowing over their caftans; mili- 
tary officers returning to their commands; 
priests of the Greek church; moujiks in red 
or blue blouses, with balloon-like trousers 
tucked into their boots; peasant-women, 
with garments tied under their armpits; 
Tartars, with conical fur hats and faces like 
the profile of the half moon. 

In the concourse there were four persons 
with whom this history is concerned : one an 


I 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
old man walking with a stoop, accompanied 
by a tall boy of athletic build; and two 
singular-looking men, who followed the 
old man and the boy, keeping them always 
in view. These men separated when the 
old man looked behind, and sauntered 
along, gazing at the decorations of the shops 
or stopping to chaffer with the shopkeepers 
who appeared at their doors to advertise 
their goods. As soon as the old man’s head 
was turned they followed like hounds track- 
ing their prey. They were dressed as travel- 
ing musicians. One carried a violin; the 
other a zither. The one with the violin had 
a face resembling that of the white hyena 
which was lately dug out of the Siberian 
ice fields, where it had been preserved 
since the epoch when it roved with long- 
haired elephants and other animals now 
found in tropical climes. His eyebrows 
were bushy, and seemed like the black out- 
stretched wings of a gull over a sharp beak. 
His eyes were close together, and a strag- 


FOLLOWED BY SPIES 


gling mustache barely concealed a coarse 
mouth, which was always so far opened as 
to show his eye teeth. 

His companion was at least a foot shorter 
in stature; and what struck one most for- 
cibly was his entire lack of eyebrows and 
his large rolling eyes. His countenance 
was like that of a certain fish which can be 
seen in the celebrated aquarium at Naples. 
This fish has a slow motion and a stupid 
glare in its protuberant eyes as it presses 
its mouth against the glass wall of the 
tank. Like the fish’s, the man’s mouth was 
constantly opening and shutting. The fish 
is not so stupid as it looks, for when a 
fly or a worm is lowered into the tank 
it darts at it with surprising quickness; 
and the man followed the movements of the 
old man and the boy even while he ap- 
peared to be gazing into shop windows. 

The old man and the boy walked quietly 
on, yielding now and then to the pushing 
crowd, with the air of well-born people. 
3 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
When the old man’s feet were trodden 
upon he stood aside, and with a bow and 
a gracious sweep of his hand gave way to 
the rude pushers, causing them to look at 
him with surprise, and possibly with un- 
easy consciences. Once the throng was so 
great that the two turned into a side street. 
The men following turned into an alley lead- 
ing to the same side street, where they were 
detained by a priest feeding a flock of doves 
in the presence of a crowd of peasants. The 
two musicians dared not put the pigeons to 
flight; for these birds are sacred objects in 
Russia, being emblematic of the spiritus 
sanctus; and they turned into another alley, 
hurrying on in order not to lose sight of the 
old man and the boy. 

The latter at length reached the banks 
of the river, and went aboard a steamboat 
drawn up at one of the wharves. They 
immediately sought the part of the boat re- 
served for first-class passengers; and when 
the motley crowd waiting on the wharf had 
4 


FOLLOWED BY SPIES 
embarked, with all their strange belong- 
ings, the boy, with the restless spirit of 
youth, wandered over the vessel, examining 
the machinery and looking at the passen- 
gers gathered on the lower deck; while the 
city, with its rambling dwellings overtopped 
by the great green and gold domes of the 
cathedral and citadel, was slowly receding. 
The colors of the bulb-like domes, seen 
against the glowing sunset, were presently 
merged in a luminous gray, like that of a 
charcoal drawing sifted over with gold 
powder; the clouds changed from orange to 
citron, then to tints of chrysoprase; and the 
sinuous wake of the steamboat disturbed 
the dark serenity of the shadows of the 
dwellings by its lines of light, colored by 
the hues of the sky. 

The peaceful floating away from the city, 
with its clangor and its ever-present picture 
of the struggle for existence, made the 
crowd gathered on the lower deck of the 
boat long for music; and the two musicians 

5 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
who had followed the old man and the boy 
were solicited to play. They chaffed those 
who asked them, and made many excuses. 
Two Bohemians, conscious of their own 
musical abilities, heard the excuses and 
smiled contemptuously. 

^^True musicians,” said one, never ex- 
cuse themselves. The soul must express 
itself, like a song-bird, at the slightest 
chirrup.” 

“ Perhaps you will play,” said the man 
with the shaggy eyebrows, offering his 
violin. The Bohemian took the instrument 
and struck the strings with fingers which 
showed their deftness. A rude clangor, 
however, resulted, and the player with a 
grimace of disgust tuned the violin and 
saying, You must have taken too much 
brandy when 3^ou tuned this last,” struck 
into one of those thrilling airs which awa- 
ken all the powers of imagination of the 
listeners; now it was an ecstatic dance, 
now a warlike passion, now a flood of 
6 


FOLLOWED BY SPIES 


tears. The boy was drawn to the neighbor- 
hood of the player by the fascination of the 
music, and did not notice the close scrutiny 
of the discredited musicians. 

Meanwhile, white moonlight had taken 
the place of the golden rays of sunset, and 
its glinting on the great globes of the cathe- 
dral showed the position of the city far in 
the distance. The waving reflections of 
lights along the banks, from the dwell- 
ings and the groups of moored fishing- 
vessels, seemed to spell in Hebrew char- 
acters the names of the ships and the 
hamlets. Distant music echoed the playing 
of the Bohemian, as if in rivalry. The boy 
wandered back to the old man, stumbling 
as he went over prostrate forms; for a 
Russian peasant falls asleep wherever he 
may chance to be on a steamboat; a coil 
of rope, a corner beside some baggage, a 
nook affording a support to the back, make 
sufficient beds. 

The old man welcomed the boy with a 

7 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


pleasant smile; and as they arranged their 
quarters for the night said, ^^Well, Alexis, 
to-morrow you will see your father after 
his nine long years of exile. I suppose you 
hardly remember him.” 

‘‘ I was only seven when he was sent to 
Siberia,” replied Alexis, ‘‘ yet I remember 
him perfectly.” 

^‘He will be delighted to see you grown 
to such a fine large lad,” said the old man. 

Good-night.” 

Alexis, as he lay in his narrow berth, 
thought of the coming meeting with his 
father. The night of their parting was 
vivid in his memory; his father had given 
him in charge to Professor Valdov, who 
was now bringing his charge back to him. 
Alexis saw his father descend the grand 
staircase of the castle, and as he reached the 
last step turn to take a last look at his son; 
that look had been indelibly impressed 
upon his mind. He had cried out with 
anguish, shaking his little fists at the 
8 


FOLLOWED BY SPIES 
officers and rushing to the door, only to 
see a drosky disappear in a thick snow- 
storm. 

Professor Valdov had endeavored to 
comfort him, and had taken him to Kasan, a 
city on the Volga. There he had educated 
him, and finally made him his assistant. The 
professor occupied the chair of physics in 
the university, and was especially interested 
in wireless telegraphy. His laboratory was 
a small room in the attic of one of the uni- 
versity buildings. It was very unlike the 
rooms of the professors of literature; the 
absence of books seemed to indicate a new 
turn to men’s thoughts. The old tomes of 
the professors of Hebrew and Sanscrit, of 
Latin and Greek, had given place to a 
labyrinth of wires; and in place of busts of 
dead emperors and philosophers were glass 
globes and batteries. The room had no air 
of studious seclusion. Its charm resided in 
the infinite possibilities of its chunks of 
iron, its coils of wire, and its bottles of 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 

chemicals. In the combination of these ma- 
terials might lie some means of changing 
the face of the globe. 

This room served not only as a place for 
investigation, but also as a meeting-place 
for the professor’s many friends. Alexis 
noticed that he was always sent on some 
errand when certain of these friends paid 
the professor a visit; he was nothing loath 
to be relieved of his work at first, and spent 
his leisure in strolling about the city with 
his college friends; but after a time he 
longed to be one of the strange party in the 
laboratory, to listen to the learned discus- 
sions, which doubtless were held, on the 
strange phenomena of wireless telegraphy. 
He had become skilled in sending and 
receiving messages, but knew little of the 
science of electricity, and he desired to 
become the equal in knowledge of these 
bearded men who talked with Professor 
Valdov. The latter, during the year just 
closed, had grown extremely preoccupied, 


lO 


FOLLOWED BY SPIES 
and was often absent from the laboratory 
for long periods. 

One day when Alexis was bending over 
the apparatus, adjusting its parts, two men 
entered the laboratory, and while they asked 
Alexis questions in regard to his work, cast 
keen glances about the room. When the 
professor returned Alexis described the 
men, and the professor seemed to grow sud- 
denly young as he listened; his stoop dis- 
appeared, his eyes flashed, and his mouth 
assumed a set look under his gray mustache. 
On the following day he disappeared on one 
of his long absences. 

One night, while the boy was listening 
to the wireless apparatus, he spelled the 
words, ‘‘ Alexis, your father has returned ; 
prepare to come to the castle.” He instantly 
sent the reply, I am Alexis. Who is this 
who speaks ? ” but no answer came. 

The boy dropped the receiving instrument 
in a tumult of feeling, repeating to himself, 
“Your father has returned.” He took up 


II 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
the instrument and listened intently; but 
the depths of space seemed unmoved by his 
agitation. It was as if the howling wind 
outside had scattered the answering words 
like flying leaves; but the boy knew that 
wireless messages scorn all winds and 
storms. His own message must have flown 
to the castle, that castle which he had left 
so many years ago. 

In a few days the professor returned, ac- 
companied by the two men who had pre- 
viously entered the laboratory. Alexis saw 
a warning look on the face of the professor 
as he explained the working of the appa- 
ratus to the visitors, who claimed to be 
professors from Moscow. The boy was 
astonished at the explanations of Professor 
Valdov, for they were certainly somewhat 
misleading. When the visitors bowed them- 
selves out, with profuse thanks, Alexis, 
trembling with excitement, began to speak 
of the mysterious message he had received. 
“Hush!” whispered the professor; and. 


12 


FOLLOWED BY SPIES 

opening the door of the laboratory, he lis- 
tened intently. Apparently not satisfied, he 
lighted a candle and descended the stairway. 
Alexis could hear him talking with the old 
janitor on the lower landing, then he saw 
the flickering light of the candle throw a 
shadow of the professor as he ascended the 
staircase. On reaching the upper landing he 
closed the door of the laboratory, and whis- 
pered, ‘‘ Speak only in a whisper! ” 

Alexis, as he fell asleep on the steamboat, 
recalled this night in the laboratory, and 
wondered at the strange actions of the pro- 
fessor; his frequent absences; the mysteri- 
ous meetings of the bearded men; the com- 
ing of the two strangers, and their curious 
and ignorant inquiries; the professor’s cau- 
tion; his stealthy steps down the dark stair- 
way; his wavering shadow on the wall, pre- 
figuring a following spy. By a strange freak 
of fancy he connected the two repulsive 
musicians with the events of that night; 
and as he fell asleep he dreamed of being 

13 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


pursued across the steppes by a white 
hyena, with strange streaks over its eyes, 
and when he plunged into a lake to escape, 
a great fish with protuberant eyes darted at 
him. He swam to the shore, — and awoke 
to find it morning, and, looking through the 
porthole, saw that the steamboat was ap- 
proaching a landing. 


CHAPTER II 


REACHING THE CASTLE 

In company with the professor he went 
ashore, where a drosky awaited them, and 
they were driven rapidly to Orloff Castle. 
The two musicians also landed, and endeav- 
ored to find a drosky, but were unsuccess- 
ful. The boy’s heart beat rapidly as he 
neared the home of his childhood, and he 
pictured to himself the coming meeting 
with his father. The drosky bounded along 
at the breakneck speed so usual in Russia; 
and at length, after traversing broad plains, 
with here and there a poor hamlet, they en- 
tered a wood, and on emerging from it saw 
an expanse of water and an eminence be- 
yond. The driver turned and pointed with 
his whip. There was the castle! 

In a moment they had passed a grand 
gateway, and the horses, galloping along a 
IS 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
wide avenue, drew up at the door of the 
castle. There they were greeted by a tall, 
majestic man, who opened his arms and em- 
braced Alexis. Count Orloff had changed 
greatly since the winter night nine years 
ago. Alexis remembered him as a young 
man, with a blond beard and brown hair, 
which stood upright in a horrent fashion 
above a smiling face; now the beard was 
gray and the hair white. The smooth ruddy 
face was seamed with deep lines; but there 
was still the forceful bearing, which long 
toil in the mines of Siberia could not 
destroy. 

The father and son walked through the 
great hall which Alexis remembered so 
well, and stopped, as if by a common im- 
pulse, before a picture. It was a full-length 
portrait of a young woman, with features 
resembling those of Alexis. She was de- 
scending the grand staircase of the castle, 
clad in a rich fur coat, with a collar like 
the high ruff in vogue in the time of Queen 

i6 


REACHING THE CASTLE 


Elizabeth of England; and the girlish face, 
with the slender neck, seemed like a deli- 
cate flower emerging from a dark calyx. 
The head was uncovered, and the dark 
hair which grew low upon the forehead 
was raised in the pompadour fashion above 
the smiling eyes. Small ears, beautifully 
shaped, were disclosed by the parting of 
the fur collar; and the smiling lips, half- 
parted, showed a row of pearly teeth. The 
fur robe, thrown back, disclosed a ball 
dress, and was held together below the 
waist by an ungloved hand. A small foot 
peeped from the bottom of the coat, as if 
seeking the next step. 

The count breathed deeply as he gazed, 
and, patting his son on the shoulder, left him, 
to join Professor Valdov. Alexis remem- 
bered that his father stood for a moment 
before that picture on the staircase on that 
memorable evening nine years ago, and said, 
‘^Alexandra, watch over this boy. Before 
I return he will be almost a man. When- 

17 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
ever he sees a woman, lead his thoughts to 
his mother.” The picture, the words of the 
father in the great hall of his ancestors, were 
destined to be ever fresh in the boy’s 
memory. 

He withdrew his eyes from long contem- 
plation of his mother’s face, and followed a 
servant to the suite of rooms which had 
been prepared for him. It was still early in 
the day, and he resolved to visit his old 
haunts. In the courtyard the old retainers 
greeted him, calling on the saints to pre- 
serve and bless him. He passed out of the 
courtyard and looked about him: the emi- 
nence on which the castle stood once 
seemed to him a mountain; it had now 
shrunk to a hill, and the trees seemed to 
have grown backward. The gardener took 
him into the greenhouses, and the men 
about the stables showed the foals he 
remembered, now grown to staid horses 
approaching old age. 

He was followed by an old Russian 

i8 


REACHING THE CASTLE 


hound, which thrust its nose into his hand. 
As he patted the dog’s head, he asked, 
“Where is my puppy?” 

“ That is the puppy,” replied the man. 
Everything that the boy remembered was 
there; but the great had grown small, the 
small great, the young old. 

On the way back to the castle Alexis saw 
a tall mast, with wires stretching from it to 
the ground, as if a giant spider had spun a 
cobweb between the top of the mast and a 
point on the earth. At the foot of the mast 
was a little house. He immediately recog- 
nized the combination as a wireless tele- 
graph station, similar to the one Professor 
Valdov had instituted at the university. 

“Who uses this wireless station?” he 
asked. 

“Old Professor Valdov,” answered the 
servant. 

A sudden light dawned on the boy. This 
station was the source of the wireless mes- 
sages he had received; and the professor’s 

19 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
long and frequent absences from the uni- 
versity were accounted for. Why had he 
never heard of this station, whence had 
been sent the mysterious words so eagerly 
received by the groups of bearded men who 
had made many visits to the laboratory in 
the professor’s absences? 

The night was coming on when Alexis 
returned to the castle, and the ravens and 
crows were coming in from their long flights 
on the plains and gathering in the trees of 
the avenues. As he entered the hall he saw 
a number of coats and hats; and the butler 
said that the count had visitors. Alexis, as 
he ascended the staircase, caught a glimpse 
of bearded men gathered about a table in 
his father’s study, where Professor Valdov 
was reading a paper. The count sat at the 
head of the table with a strange grim look 
on his countenance. Alexis turned away 
and was about to spring up the stairs, when 
he thought that he saw a face peering into 
the study through a window. Could it be 


20 


REACHING THE CASTLE 


the face of the old hound, with its hair 
strangely disheveled and with strongly 
marked streaks across its visage, caused 
perhaps by the window bars ? He looked 
again; but the face had disappeared. 

On the following day the agent to whom 
the count had intrusted the care of his es- 
tates during his long absence took Alexis 
out for a day’s shooting, and when they re- 
turned, late in the afternoon, they saw the 
two musicians whom Alexis had noticed 
on the steamboat. They were seated on a 
bank eating lunch. 

Make a good show of your gun,” said 
the agent, “ as we pass those fellows. I saw 
them strolling about the castle last night 
and ordered them off. I don’t like their 
looks.” 

Alexis told of their presence on the boat, 
and said that he thought he had seen the 
taller one with the strange eyebrows peer- 
ing through the window. As they passed 
the musicians the latter gazed fixedly at 


21 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


Alexis, who returned their gaze with the 
imperious look of his father; but at the 
same time he felt a strange apprehension. 
The presence of these strange men about 
the castle recalled the night on which his 
father was torn from him. 

On the day of Professor Valdov’s return 
to Kasan, he took Alexis to the wireless 
telegraph station and explained the con- 
nections, which were somewhat different 
from those in his own laboratory. The 
sending spark was inclosed in a glass globe 
to deaden the noise, and the receiver, a new 
invention of the professor, was simply a 
bit of crystal found by the count in Siberia. 
A wire connected to the cobweb of wires 
suspended from the mast was led to the 
ground; this was cut, and the bit of crystal 
was inserted in the cut. The wires leading 
to a telephone were connected on each side 
of the crystal, as if a human hand were the 
telephone, the telephone wires being the 
thumb and forefinger holding the crystal 


22 


REACHING THE CASTLE 
against the portions of the ground wire. 
The waves in the ether, in their endeavor 
to take refuge in the earth, made a tick in 
the telephone. 

“ Something good at last from Siberia,’^ 
said the professor, with an ironical laugh. 

Every evening, during the hours assigned 
by the professor, Alexis listened and re- 
ceived wireless messages. At first they 
were merely affectionate inquiries; but 
soon they were in cipher, with an injunc- 
tion to communicate them to the count. 
As Alexis listened to the strange taps which 
spelled out words in a language unknown 
to him, he felt strangely alone; the only two 
persons in the world whom he loved had 
left him out of their confidence. He wrote 
out the messages as he received them, and 
took them to the count, who scanned them 
with a stern look on his face, and then 
carefully burned them. 

One night Alexis received a longer mes- 
sage than usual, and the count, after read- 

23 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
ing it, stamped his foot angrily, then looked 
at his son with regret at having given way 
to an ebullition of temper. Struck by the 
proud, reserved look of Alexis, he gazed 
at him curiously. 

^^You cannot read the cipher in which 
this message is written ? ” he asked. 

“ No,” replied Alexis ; “ I am treated as a 
mere machine by you and the professor; for 
I am apparently not worthy of your confi- 
dence.” 

A sudden look of remorse passed over 
the count’s face, and he put both hands on 
his son’s shoulders, saying : — 

“ You are the only being in the world 
whom I love : you shall know all in time.” 

The two made a striking picture as they 
confronted each other: the count with his 
great stature and noble bearing; the boy 
with his open face, his dark hair curling 
close to his head, and his youthful figure 
which promised to be the counterpart of 
his father’s. He did not know that the moist- 


24 


REACHING THE CASTLE 


ure in those haggard eyes was caused by 
the remembrance of his mother, quickened 
by the profile of her son. 

“ I can wait and serve,” replied Alexis, 
with a feeling of remorse at having evoked 
such an evidence of great feeling. 

His father’s words, ‘‘ you shall know all 
in time,” recurred often to the boy as he 
speculated upon the strange actions which 
occurred daily in the castle. The count 
was engaged in disposing of the bulk of his 
great estates to certain Jews who came from 
Warsaw. He granted to the peasants on 
the estate sums sufficient to make them com- 
fortable for life. The picture of the boy’s 
mother was taken from the wall, boxed, and 
sent to the artist in Paris, who, the count 
observed, was having an exhibition of his 
pictures. As the Jews listened to Count 
Orloff’s terms they cast quick glances at 
one another as if telegraphing by some sign 
language known only to themselves, a 
method of wireless telegraphy of great 
25 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
antiquity. With oblique glances they esti- 
mated the value of the rich collections of 
armor and objects of art by which they 
were surrounded. The count did not brook 
the slightest attempt at bargaining, and the 
Jews cringed in the most deferential man- 
ner, fearing to be shown out of the castle at 
any moment. The count’s agent was pre- 
sent at these business meetings, together 
with the lawyers, who read in monotonous 
voices the terms of sale, while the Jews 
protested only by the rise and fall of their 
clawlike hands. 

Alexis wondered if it were possible that 
his father intended to sell the castle. He 
had the traditional pride of the Orloffs, and 
combined with it an intense love for the 
home of his childhood. He wandered over 
the great domain with his gun, followed by 
the hound, which seemed to have a premo- 
nition of some coming change. He visited 
the peasants in their hamlets, and accepted 
their obeisances as a prerogative of his 
26 


REACHING THE CASTLE 
heirship of the estates; he studied in the 
library the genealogy of his ancestors, and 
asked the professor by wireless telegraphy 
to send him a watch with the arms of the 
Orloffs engraved on one of its faces. If he 
should be compelled to leave the castle, 
the homesickness would be terrible to bear. 

He had joined his father in the autumn; 
but now the severe Russian winter was at 
hand, the bays in the river where he had 
shot ducks were frozen over, the fields were 
covered with snow, and great fires were 
necessary in the banqueting hall of the 
castle. 

The little house where Alexis received 
the wireless messages was bitterly cold. 
One night he sat there, wrapped in furs, 
and received a message in cipher followed 
by the word urgent.” He immediately 
sought his father. 

The count started as he read the message, 
looked into space for a moment, knitted his 
eyebrows, re-read it, and summoned his 
27 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
agent After a moment’s consultation, the 
latter hurried from the castle, and the count, 
putting his arm through his son’s, drew 
him into the library and closed the door. 

^^Put a few necessary articles in your 
traveling-bag,’ said he; ^^we must take a 
long ride to-night. How soon can you be 
ready ? ” 

“How long shall we be away?” asked 
Alexis, with a premonition of a coming 
struggle. 

“ I cannot tell,” replied the father. The 
ever-present mystery was well expressed 
by those words, “ I cannot tell.” 

Alexis ran to his apartments, followed by 
the great hound, which kept up a constant 
moaning. The boy paused for an instant in 
the operation of thrusting articles into his 
bag, and, taking the dog’s head in both his 
hands, bent down and kissed him between 
the eyes, while the hound licked his face. 

The count awaited his son’s coming in 
the hall, enveloped in furs, and affec- 
28 


REACHING THE CASTLE 

tionately assisted him to prepare himself 
for the severe cold of the night. His feet 
were clad in fur shoes, and were then thrust 
into fur boots which came to the knees. He 
then drew on a great coat of white bear- 
skin, with a high collar, put on a fur cap, 
and encased his hands in fur mittens, which 
separated only the thumbs. A servant then 
wrapped both father and son with many 
folds of stout cloth, to hold the furs close 
to their bodies, much as one might tie up a 
package with many windings of twine. The 
count took a rifle, and handed one to Alexis. 
The door of the castle was opened, and in 
the yellow light cast by the lamps of the 
hall a drosky could be seen. The breath 
of the horses seemed like the steam from a 
samovar; and the driver sat as immovable 
as a mummy. The count carefully placed a 
small casket in the drosky, gave his hand 
to his agent, who stood with the retainers, 
motioned to Alexis to take a seat in the 
vehicle, and after speaking in a low tone to 
29 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


the agent, followed his son, and they were 
off. The horses dashed down the dark 
avenue as if anxious to dispel the benumb- 
ing cold by frantic endeavor. The runners 
made a noise like that of a diamond cutting 
glass, and Alexis saw the lights of the castle 
dodge behind the trees, now on this side, 
now on that, as if anxious to get a last look. 
The drosky rolled over the great expanse 
of snow upon which it entered after 
leaving the avenue, like a ship at sea. The 
moon was partly veiled by clouds; yet 
there was sufficient light to see the snowy 
plain, with here and there a dark grove of 
pines, a clump of straggling birches, or a 
hamlet of peasant houses. Often there was 
nothing to break the great expanse. In 
the bitter cold, with no living thing in 
sight, it seemed as if the travelers had been 
transported to the moon and were being 
conveyed over a dead world. The count 
was silent, and Alexis was too proud to ask 
for what was not vouchsafed. 


30 


REACHING THE CASTLE 


On and on they flew; their breath con- 
gealed and froze the fur collars over their 
mouths, making silver clasps. They had 
reached a dark wood and had plunged into 
its depths, when Alexis saw a dark figure 
running on his side of the drosky; at first 
he thought that the faithful hound had fol- 
lowed them; but presently another figure 
appeared and an exclamation was heard 
from the driver. The count muttered. 
Wolves! ” and, half rising, he looked be- 
hind. Alexis also turned, and saw a group 
of black figures loping after them, and 
caught a glimpse of shining eyes close to 
the drosky. Two of the animals ran into 
each other. The stronger shook off the 
weaker with a growl, fought with it in the 
snow, and, leaving it prone on its back, with 
its feet in the air, sprang after the drosky. 
The horses flew on in terror, fairly lifting 
the drosky over inequalities in the track. 
The count raised his rifle and fired ; a wolf 
rolled over; those that followed swerved 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


aside from their writhing companion, but 
did not stop. Alexis also fired, and killed 
the wolf that was running close to the heels 
of the horses. Father and son uttered not 
a word; but, actuated by a common im- 
pulse, took careful aim as best they could 
in the rolling sleigh, and as they emerged 
from the wood saw the animals pause and 
slink into its shelter. The count said a few 
words of encouragement to the terrified 
driver, while Alexis felt a proud sense of 
companionship with his father, a feeling of 
comradeship which only soldiers who have 
gone into battle shoulder to shoulder can 
feel. 

At the edge of the wood that had shel- 
tered the wolves the flying horses bolted 
at a dark object on the snow. The count 
called loudly to the driver to stop; he 
had seen something mysterious in the 
obstruction which the horses had narrowly 
missed. When the horses were reined in, 
he walked back to it. It was the carcass of 


32 


REACHING THE CASTLE 


a horse attached to an overturned drosky. 
The horse was partially eaten by wolves, 
and its hind-legs were in the air as if par- 
alyzed in a final kick. 

As the count stood by the gruesome re- 
mains, he heard an outcry, and, striding to 
the edge of the wood, saw a Russian pea- 
sant, or moujik, in a tree. He recognized 
one of his people, and assisted the half- 
crazed man to descend. The moujik, still 
trembling, told of his wild flight from the 
wolves; of their dragging down his horse, 
and of his escape, and thanked the count 
in a reverential manner. The latter took 
him into his drosky, wrapped him in furs, 
and bade the driver hasten on. 

The moon, as if content with the excite- 
ment of the early hours of the night, with- 
drew behind a thick veil of clouds; and 
the snowy plain, with here and there a 
black copse of trees, or a hamlet almost 
obliterated by snowdrifts, assumed the 
tone of gray cinders on a cold hearth. 
33 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


Toward morning it began to glow feebly 
as if a hidden fire were beginning to reas- 
sert itself. The sun, still far below the 
horizon, colored the clouds, which in turn 
reflected a rosy light upon the snow. Far 
in the distance could be seen the globular 
dome of a church amid huddled dwellings; 
and the driver crossed himself, uttering a 
prayer of thanks for his escape from the 
perils of the night. The horses, which were 
black when they dashed from the door of 
the castle, were now gray with the frost; 
and long icicles hung from their mouths, 
making them look like tusked walruses of 
the far north. 


CHAPTER III 


THE NIGHT ATTACK 

On the night following the flight of the 
count, a group of soldiers, headed by an 
officer, who was accompanied by the man 
with bushy eyebrows and the man with 
none, appeared at the castle. The count’s 
agent opened the main door in answer to 
the clangor of the bell, and saw the com- 
pany by the light of a lantern held by a 
retainer. 

“You ordered me off,” said the man 
with bushy eyebrows; “now I order you 
to admit me and my friends.” 

“ Have you an order from Count Orloff 
asked the agent. 

“ I have an order for him,” replied the 
man. 

“ He is not here,” answered the agent. 

“We will see for ourselves,” said the 

35 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


officer, pushing the agent aside and beck- 
oning his men. 

“Wait!” said the man with bushy eye- 
brows ; “ we must put a man at every 
door.” 

The officer glared at the interrupter, but 
followed his suggestion; and there was a 
sound of crunching snow as the soldiers 
filed about the castle. When sentinels had 
been placed at every point of egress, the 
officer returned with a file of soldiers. The 
man with bushy eyebrows and his com- 
panion had entered the castle and were 
rummaging among the papers in the library. 
The officer and soldiers, after a careful 
inspection of the interior of the castle, re- 
turned to the banqueting hall and ordered 
the terrified butler to prepare a dinner. 
The agent was commanded to set forth 
wine and to have a roaring fire built in the 
great fireplace. The servants were slow in 
bringing suitable kindlings, and the man 
with bushy eyebrows tore up a beautiful 

36 


THE NIGHT ATTACK 
book and thrust the leaves under the slow- 
burning logs. 

The agent was apparently eager to an- 
swer the rough demands of the visitors, 
and attended personally to the bringing of 
wine and food; but he had whispered to 
one of the retainers while the officer was 
engaged in searching for the count. The re- 
tainer disappeared through a secret under- 
ground passage which led to the peasants’ 
village. 

The rude company in the banqueting 
hall grew hilarious under the effect of the 
warmth and the wine. The man with bushy 
eyebrows told stories of tracking men, 
which were corroborated by the man with 
no eyebrows; and the officer thumped on 
the table in approbation of his cleverness, 
while his sword jingled under the table 
as if stirred by the narrative of savage 
encounters. Unwilling to be left out, the 
agent occasionally appeared at a door, 
looking very meek and subservient. He 
37 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
was ordered to bring the best the castle 
afforded. 

If we can’t find the count,” roared the 
officer, we can find his wine.” 

The great staghound, apparently suspect- 
ing evil, had entered the banqueting hall, 
and passed from man to man, uttering low 
growls. The man with bushy eyebrows 
kicked the animal away, and the hound 
immediately fastened his teeth in the man’s 
leg. With a cry of pain the victim sprang 
to his feet and beat the hound with a chair. 

Kill the beast! ” he cried to a soldier. 

The agent seized the hound, saying that 
he was a valuable animal, and that he would 
put him out. 

^^Kill him, I tell you; kill him!” cried 
the man in a paroxysm of rage. As the 
soldier drew a knife and stepped forward, 
the agent whispered to the hound, and the 
animal bounded out of the room and ran 
up the stairway. The soldier was about to 
follow, when a strange noise was heard out- 

38 


THE NIGHT ATTACK 
side. The officer rose unsteadily and drew 
his sword; his companions looked at each 
other, suddenly sobered, and the agent, 
who had run to a window, came back with 
a look of terror. 

“ What is all this ? ” demanded the offi- 
cer, with an oath. 

‘‘ The peasants ! ’’ replied the agent; 

they have heard that you have come to 
take the count. They are a terrible lot to 
deal with when their blood is up. They do 
not distinguish friend from foe.” 

The officer commanded the soldiers to 
fire from the windows, and hastened to let 
in the sentries. A random shot sounded 
here and there, and was greeted with sav- 
age yells from a great throng outside. 
Fierce eyes, beneath tangled hair, peered 
through the windows. 

‘‘ They have no guns ! ” shouted the offi- 
cer to the soldiers, who were gathered in 
the banqueting hall. ‘‘Let them have a 
volley.” 


‘ 39 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 

Sharp reports rang out, but had no effect 
in subduing the mob. They had apparently 
collected at the main door and were en- 
deavoring to batter it down. The officer, 
now completely sobered, did his best to ani- 
mate his men; but they were unnerved by 
the wild cries of the enraged crowd. These 
cries formed a strange composite roar, like 
that of the mob which beat down the mas- 
sive door of the Tolbooth in Edinburgh on 
the night of the assault so vividly described 
by Scott in “ The Heart of Midlothian,” or 
like that of the mob which gathered at Ver- 
sailles and took the unfortunate King and 
Queen to Paris. The roar seemed more 
like that of wild animals than like cries 
uttered by human beings. 

The man with bushy eyebrows and his 
eyebrowless companion besought the agent 
to find them a hiding-place; for the door 
could not long sustain the battering, and 
they felt that they would be slaughtered by 
the crowd. The agent, to conceal his part 
40 


THE NIGHT ATTACK 
in exciting the mob, hurried the two along 
the dark passage through which the re- 
tainer had crept to arouse the peasants. 
Without a word of thanks, the terrified 
men followed his directions; and as they 
fled down the hill heard the crash of the 
falling door and the savage, exultant cries 
of the assailants. 

A straggling soldier, worn with cold and 
fatigue, the only survivor of the wrath of 
the peasants, reached Kasan and told the 
story of the fearful night to the command- 
ant of the citadel. The two spies, one with 
bushy eyebrows and the other without eye- 
brows, who were addressed by the com- 
mandant as Bushy’’ and ‘‘Bare,” were 
closeted with him when the soldier arrived 
and told his story. The commandant, in a 
rage, cried, “ I will send a force to cover 
those wretches’ hovels with petroleum, 
and order them to set a fire which will 
wipe them off the face of the earth.” He 
gnashed his teeth as he spoke, walking up 

41 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
and down, his sword pounding on the 
floor. 

^‘That will never do,” said an officer; 
the entire province would be set on fire, 
for the peasants are on the edge of a revolt. 
We shall have our hands full yet in this 
very city. You,” said he, turning to Bushy 
and Bare, have failed to find the count? ” 

“We are on his track,” replied Bushy 
significantly. 

“ Some one of the conspirators has turned 
informer ? ” asked the officer. 

“No,” replied the man; “ Professor Val- 
dov left Kasan last night, and we have 
learned his destination. He has gone to 
join the count, and we leave at midnight.” 

“ Have you a list of the conspirators ? ” 
asked the commandant. In reply Bushy 
handed the latter a paper. The command- 
ant hummed savagely as he read the docu- 
ment. 

“How about the count’s agent?” he 
asked. 


42 


THE NIGHT ATTACK 
He can be trusted to help us,” replied 
Bare; “ without his aid we should not be 
here.” 

After receiving minute directions the 
two spies left the citadel. 

When the count and Alexis reached 
Smolensk at the close of day, Alexis, leav- 
ing his father at an inn, strolled out, ani- 
mated by the desire of youth to see a 
strange city. They had arrived in a dense 
snowstorm, but the sky had cleared in the 
evening, and the stars shone with great 
brilliancy. The Northern Lights threw a 
rosy light upon the new-fallen snow on the 
roofs and on the domes of the churches. 
The domes seemed like a council of Tar- 
tars in white hoods, seated before the faint, 
flickering embers of a hidden fire. 

The shopkeepers had cleaned the snow 
away from the entrances to their shops; and 
the streets were filled with people. Alexis 
gazed into the shop windows, watched the 
arrival and departure of kibitkas and dros- 
43 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


kies, and entered a church into which pea- 
sants were thronging. Overcome by the 
mystery of the flight from the castle, he 
felt that the solemn interior might give him 
strength to support what the future had in 
store; and, kneeling before a shrine of St. 
Sergius, he invoked the saint to protect his 
father and himself from evil. This evil was 
pictured in his mind as a pursuit by men 
who desired to tear his father from him 
and send him again to Siberia. Beside 
him knelt a peasant woman, who prayed 
that her child might be restored to health ; 
and what saint could fail to be moved by 
such prayers and could refuse to act as an 
intercessor? As Alexis lifted his eyes they 
rested on the glittering shrine, with its 
wealth of jewels, as it were an intimation 
of the court of Heaven, where St. Sergius 
was waiting to present the boy’s petition. 
The patriarchs stood in devotion before the 
shrine, and the swelling music seemed 
to usher the Holy Spirit into the solemn 
44 


THE NIGHT ATTACK 
place. Awaking suddenly from his mood 
of mysticism, Alexis bethought him of his 
father’s anxiety at his prolonged absence, 
and, leaving the church, he hurried back 
to the inn. 

On his way he passed a resort of trav- 
elers, and, gazing through the windows, 
started with apprehension as he saw the 
two men, one with bushy eyebrows, the 
other with none, drinking tea from a sam- 
ovar, He felt that there was something 
ominous in the arrival of these men, whom 
he had seen loitering about the castle, and 
he resolved to communicate his suspicions 
to his father. 

On arriving at the inn, he found the count 
in company with a gentleman to whom he 
did not introduce his son. The boy had a 
return of the proud impulse which rebelled 
against his father’s apparent disinclination 
to take him into his confidence; and he 
gazed almost defiantly at the stranger, who 
was dressed like an Englishman. He had 
45 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


gray side-whiskers, and wore an eyeglass. 
Alexis could not get a view of his full face, 
for he stood with his back half turned, 
while he listened to the count. Presently 
he gazed at the boy. The latter sprang 
toward him with outstretched arms; the 
visitor put his finger to his lips ; and 
Alexis exclaimed, Professor! ” in a sup- 
pressed voice. 

Count Orloff went to the door, which 
was ajar, and closed it. Then Alexis was 
told of the discovery of a plot in which 
the count and the professor, together with 
many prominent noblemen, were involved. 
At last the confidence had come; the boy 
seemed to grow to the stature of a man 
as he listened. He told of seeing the two 
strange men drinking at the travelers’ inn, 
and spoke of his suspicions. The professor 
twirled his eyeglass and nodded his head. 

These men,” said he to the count, ‘‘are 
on our track. One is known as the Hyena, 
and the other as the Octopus. It is neces- 
46 


THE NIGHT ATTACK 

sary to change our plans immediately. We 
must separate.” 

Alexis felt an ominous sinking of the 
heart as he heard the word separate.” 
After the long years of separation was 
he again to be torn from his father.^ 

The professor rapidly outlined a plan of 
action : it was necessary for the count and 
himself to meet friends in Warsaw; they 
would take separate routes; and Alexis 
should go to Paris and wait there until they 
would join him. The spies were on the 
track of two men and a boy, and the sepa- 
ration would throw them completely off 
the track. While the count sat buried in 
thought, Alexis put his arms around his 
neck, and said, Never fear for me, father; 
1 have been to Paris with Professor Valdov, 
and can take care of myself. I am chiefly 
concerned for you.” 

We must decide now,” said the count, 
returning the caress; and he gave particu- 
lar directions in regard to addresses, while 
47 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


he quickly readjusted their baggage. The 
professor left the room to hire a kibitka; 
for it was decided to drive to a remote 
railway station at a junction, where they 
could separate for their different destina- 
tions. 

The kibitka was soon at the door, and 
the three, entering it, were driven rapidly 
out of the city, the lights of which soon 
faded behind them, and only the stars and 
the Northern Lights illumined the snow. 
Straggling, mast-like poles indicated the 
roads; but so ineffectually that the driver 
often drove into the fields. All night the 
travelers fled, and early in the morning 
drew up at a small station. The waiting- 
room was filled with a motley crowd; Pol- 
ish Jews, Cossacks, German merchants, 
and pilgrims. The different nationalities 
collected there seemed to represent the 
complicated pulsation of the heart of the 
great Russian Empire. When the train 
drew in, the count embraced his son and 
48 


THE NIGHT ATTACK 
said, ‘‘ Remember Numero — , Rue de 
Rivoli.’’ 

Alexis repeated the words, embraced 
his father, sprang into the train; and in 
another instant the station was receding; 
he caught a last view of the tall form of his 
father standing beside the professor. When 
should he see them again? 


CHAPTER IV 


WOLVES ON THE SCENT 

The two spies, having located the count at 
the inn, felt that they could make a night 
of it; for, said Bushy to Bare, It will not 
be courteous to disturb the slumbers of the 
count and the professor.” 

Sleep is a sure jailer,” rejoined Bare. 

The two ordered the best that the inn 
afforded, treated the soldiers who had been 
deputed to assist them in taking the fugi- 
tives back to Kasan, and went to the 
theatre. 

In the early morning they sought the 
inn, fully expecting to take their men; 
and marched confidently into the court- 
yard, terrifying landlord and servants by 
their fierce looks and show of authority. 

“Gone! last night!” ejaculated Bushy, 
looking at Bare. The latter cross-examined 
the landlord, and, learning that the driver 

50 


WOLVES ON THE SCENT 
of the kibitka would return in the course 
of the day, told Bushy that there was 
nothing to do but to wait until his return; 
they could learn from him the destination 
of the count. The two spent the day in mu- 
tual recriminations. Bare with an ironical 
laugh recalled Bushy’s remark in regard to 
courtesy, and Bushy retorted by Bare’s 
remark on the virtue of sleep as a jailer. 
If Bushy had been of a generous nature, 
he would have confessed that he had been 
caught napping, and would have included 
Bare in the remark. 

When the driver arrived, late in the 
day, he was closely interrogated. All they 
learned was the name of the station where 
he had left the travelers; and the two spies, 
hiring another conveyance, set out with 
speed to find at the station, if possible, some 
clue to the route taken by the count and 
his companions. They reflected savagely 
that the hunted had gained a day on them, 
and urged the driver to put his horses at 

51 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY; 
top speed, alternately swearing at him and 
cajoling him. This driver seemed a very 
stupid moujik; but he had learned from the 
presence of the soldiers in Smolensk, in 
company with these savage-looking men 
who were urging him on, that they were in 
pursuit of men in revolt. He had been in 
secret revolt all his life against the govern- 
ment; for his son had been sent to Siberia 
unjustly, and he was not moved from his 
stolidity when the harness, patched to- 
gether with bits of rope, gave way and the 
occupants of the kibitka were deposited in 
a snowdrift. If there had been a bare place 
on the road Bushy and Bare would have 
executed a contradance of rage; but the 
snow was deep everywhere, and the emo- 
tion which might have been allayed by 
exercise of this sort exhibited itself in 
oaths. After a long delay the harness was 
tied together; but it was necessary to drive 
cautiously; and it was late in the forenoon 
when they reached the station. 

52 


WOLVES ON THE SCENT 
The ticket-agent, on being interviewed, 
remembered a tall, imposing-looking man 
who bought two tickets for Minsk and one 
for a town on the frontier. There was such 
a crowd returning from a fair that he did 
not take particular notice of the man. 
Bushy and Bare strolled about the station 
interviewing every operative, but the des- 
ultory information they gained was of no 
assistance. Finally the telegraph operator 
said that he heard the words “ Numero — , 
Rue de Rivoli ” uttered by a boy who 
sprang into a carriage of the train just as 
it started. The words had lingered in his 
mind, for his own stay in Paris was such a 
delightful memory that he envied the boy, 
who was, it might be, going there. The 
boy had been walking up and down with 
two men before the arrival of the train. 

When Alexis arrived at the Gare du 
Nord, and was rapidly driven to Rue de 
Rivoli, he was surprised at the absence of 
53 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


snow. The streets were filled with a gay 
crowd; men were sitting outside the cafes 
on the boulevards, smoking and drinking 
coffee. It was evening, and the electric 
signs high up on business houses and hotels 
winked, as if to inform the newcomer that 
there was much to see in Paris. The omni- 
bus in which Alexis had taken a seat, after 
being driven through many narrow streets 
and out again upon apparently endless bou- 
levards, entered Place Vendome, which 
was comparatively empty. Passing through 
this square, solemnized by the great col- 
umn surmounted by the statue of Napo- 
leon, it entered upon the brilliantly lighted 
Rue de Rivoli, and was driven into a court- 
yard in which stood trees in great pots. 
Ladies in fine costumes, accompanied by 
gentlemen in evening dress, with coats 
upon their arms, crossed the courtyard, 
evidently on their way to evening enter- 
tainments. 

Alexis, while he was being assigned to 

54 


WOLVES ON THE SCENT 


a room, asked for letters or telegrams, and 
felt a pang when he received none. His 
apprehensions, however, were forgotten for 
the moment in the excitement of being in 
Paris. After dinner he walked out of the 
courtyard, now filled with groups of guests 
chatting gayly and listening to a Hungarian 
orchestra which was playing airs he had so 
often heard in Kasan. There is nothing 
which brings the heart to the lips so surely 
as the sound of familiar airs in a foreign 
city; especially if one is alone. He gazed 
up and down the street while the music 
played on. A row of lights stretched down 
to the majestic Palace of the Tuileries in 
one direction, and extended indefinitely in 
the other. He remembered that along that 
street a King and Queen were once dragged 
to captivity; and the thought of their agony 
caused him to reflect upon what his feel- 
ings would be if he and his father should 
be seized, and made to undergo some mys- 
terious evil. 


55 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
As he passed out of sound of the music 
and entered the Champs-Elysees the gayety 
of a Parisian night dispelled these sad 
thoughts and forebodings. Among the trees 
there were many brilliantly lighted Cafes 
Chantants^ and he entered one of them. 
A young girl was spinning like a flounced 
top, pausing now and then to write invisi- 
ble characters on the air with her flourish- 
ing feet. Men with black mustaches curled 
up at the ends bent forward, apparently 
eager to decipher those wireless messages. 
Some of the faces reminded Alexis of 
Bushy’s face turned upside down. Old men 
seemed to find as much amusement in the 
gyrations of the flamboyant top on the stage 
as the young men who puffed cigarette 
smoke into the air and waved its modest veil 
away with impatient hands. Above the tin- 
sel and glitter of the stage, with its ogling 
performer, the boy saw the picture of his 
mother pausing on the staircase. It was a 
strange vision to see in that place, filled 
S6 


WOLVES ON THE SCENT 
with an idle, pleasure-loving crowd, and 
perhaps arose from the knowledge that the 
picture was in Paris; this knowledge helped 
to dispel the feeling of loneliness which 
inevitably arises when one finds one’s self 
alone in a crowd of foreigners. The vision 
made the painted face of the performer and 
the simpering and ogling looks of the young 
women who sat beside Alexis so abhorrent 
that he left the place, with all its glitter 
and its bizarre music, and returned to the 
hotel. 

On the third day after his arrival in 
Paris he received a telegram from his 
father informing him of the arrival of him- 
self and the professor in Warsaw. In a 
few days a long letter came, containing 
astonishing directions. On receipt of the 
letter he was to leave Paris for Liverpool, 
and go aboard the steamer Russia, bound 
for New York. The count and the pro- 
fessor would join him on the steamer. If 
they should be detained he was to sail, and 
57 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
on landing was to present himself to Sergius 
Romanoff, No. — , 22d St., New York. 

^^If anything happens to detain us”: 
these were the words of the letter; and 
Alexis repeated them to himself as he hur- 
riedly made his preparations for departure. 

The clerk of the hotel at Numdro — y 
Rue de Rivoli, looked up from his scheme 
of rooms on hearing an inquiry addressed 
to him; and saw a thickset man, with a 
large face and protuberant eyes, who seemed 
to be a German professor. The eyes shone 
out with a fishy look from behind gold- 
bowed spectacles, and the man’s large head 
was surmounted by a black hat, underneath 
which straggling locks rested on the collar 
of a voluminous coat. The clerk stared at 
the inquirer as he replied: “Yes, Monsieur 
Alexis Orloff was here; but he has gone. 
He left last night.” 

“ Do you know his destination ? ” 

“No,” replied the clerk, staring fixedly 
at the man, and touching at the same time 

58 


WOLVES ON THE SCENT 
a push-button beneath the lid of his desk. 
The man, wondering at the strange manner 
and suspicious look of the clerk, turned 
away and walked up and down the corri- 
dor. A detective summoned by the clerk’s 
bell walked to the desk, and, while he com 
versed with the clerk, watched the visitor. 
The latter presently left the hotel. It was 
night, and the Parisian crowds were hurry- 
ing to places of entertainment. The man 
passed into Rue Castiglione, then turned 
sharply into Rue Saint-Honore, uncon- 
scious that the detective was following him 
closely. Having taken the number of the 
hotel, the detective entered, and made 
inquiries in his turn, concerning the name 
of the German professor, who had joined 
a man with a hairy face who also wore 
glasses and had remarkable eyebrows. 

“Well,” asked Bushy, “what success?” 

“ He left yesterday for an unknown 
destination,” replied Bare, sinking into a 
chair and ordering a glass of brandy. 

59 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 

Bushy stared at Bare. 

Why do you glare at me like a hyena?” 
exclaimed Bare, strikihg the table with his 
fist as if to express his wrath at a defeated 
efibrt. 

“You evidently worked hard,” said 
Bushy. “ For you lost an eyebrow in your 
zeal.” 

Bare passed his hand over his brow and 
removed the remaining eyebrow. It was 
plain why the clerk had stared. At that 
moment a gendarme appeared and ordered 
the men to accompany him before the Pre- 
fect of Police. The detective had hurried 
to the latter with his suspicions. Bushy 
gibed Bare as they accompanied the gen- 
darme, saying that he had an unrecognized 
gift as a lightning transmogrifier. On reach- 
ing the Prefect’s office Bushy calmly handed 
that official a paper. The latter immedi- 
ately abandoned his savage official manner, 
and almost obsequiously offered the assist- 
ance of the government in their quest. 

6o 


WOLVES ON THE SCENT 
In the morning the two spies determined 
to interview the servants of the hotel where 
Alexis had lodged, in order to find some 
clue to his destination. Accordingly Bushy 
set out for the hotel; and began with the 
head porter. Meeting with no success, he 
turned to the clerk who had charge of let- 
ters and telegrams. There were no letters 
waiting. He then entered the elevator, and, 
waiting till the guests who had entered with 
him had disappeared to their apartments, 
made inquiries of the elevator attendant, 
describing Alexis minutely. The attend- 
ant remembered the boy perfectly. 

^^A large, handsome fellow,” said he, 
almost a man; Monsieur Orloff, a Rus- 
sian. I am a Russian myself. He has gone 
to America, where I hope to be myself 
some day.” 

Ah ! ” said Bushy. Did he speak of the 
route he intended to take — the steamer ? ” 
The attendant had not learned the route 
or the name of the steamer. Bushy left the 

6i 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 

elevator and waited in his room for the 
return of Bare, who, in company with a 
detective, had gone to the steamship offices 
to ascertain if Alexis had booked in any of 
them. Bare returned in triumph. He had 
found the name of the steamer; and the 
Prefect had obtained at the hotel a letter 
addressed to Alexis Orloff and postmarked 
Warsaw. 


CHAPTER V 


PENNILESS IN A STRANGE CITY 

Alexis, as the train drew out of Paris and 
the houses and the dome of the cathedral 
on the hill faded into the distance, took out 
his father’s letter of directions and pon- 
dered over it. What had caused his delay 
in joining him? and why did he hint at a 
further possible detention? He put away 
the letter carefully, and gazed over the 
broad expanse of the French landscape, 
with its carefully marked division of own- 
ership; its lines of poplar trees beside the 
rivers, on the banks of which sat fishermen. 

There was only one other occupant of 
the carriage in which Alexis was seated, a 
young man, who pointed to the stray fish- 
ermen, and said with a smile, — 

‘Hf you should return to France next 
year at this time, you would see those 

63 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
same fishermen seated there. I have never 
seen them catch anything. They should be 
painted as emblematic of hope.” 

He hoped that he had not offended a 
Frenchman by this remark. Alexis said 
that he was a Russian, and the young man, 
much interested, asked many questions in 
regard to that country and in regard to the 
city of Kasan. Alexis spoke of his studies, 
of the manner in which he had gained 
his wonderful knowledge of languages, at 
which the young man marveled greatly. 

‘^Perhaps,” said he, ^‘you may judge 
from my volubility that I have not a com- 
mand even of my own tongue.” 

The conversation turned to methods of 
education, particularly in science. Alexis 
spoke of his laboratory work in the subject 
of electricity. His companion immediately 
showed great interest, and said that he had 
been on a tour of inspection of wireless 
telegraph stations, having one himself in 
America. 


64 


PENNILESS IN A STRANGE CITY 


Do you know Professor Valdov?” 
asked Alexis. He has done much in 
wireless telegraphy.” 

Valdov ? Valdov ? ” repeated the young 
man. “ There ’s an article about him in a 
French paper this morning; ^Figaro’ or 
^Le Matin/ — let me see.” Thus saying, 
he opened his dress-suit case and took out 
a bundle of papers. 

Yes, here it is, in ‘ Le Matin,’ — ^Corn- 
plot par telegraphie sans fil ’ (A Conspir- 
acy by Wireless Telegraphy). The Russian 
government has discovered that Count Or- 
loff, who, it may be remembered, was sent 
to Siberia years ago, having been liberated, 
has been engaged in an extensive plot 
which has been planned by wireless tele- 
graphy in connection with Professor Val- 
dov of Kasan, a man well known by his 
researches in electricity. Both conspirators 
have fled from the country. Wireless tele- 
graphy promises to play a prominent part 
in future revolutions; for no censorship 

65 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
can be exercised over it, — it is as free 
as air.” 

Alexis leaned forward, eagerly listening, 
and read the article attentively when his 
companion, after reading the French with 
difficulty, handed him the paper. 

should like to meet that Professor 
Valdov,” said Alexis’s companion. He has 
made some interesting discoveries. I hope 
the Russian government won’t get hold of 
him. If they do, I suppose it will go hard 
with him. Did you meet him at the 
university ? ” 

Alexis parried the question, and they 
entered upon a discussion of transform- 
ers and sparks, which was carried on by 
Alexis almost mechanically, for he was 
greatly disturbed by the article. The train 
had now passed out of the more highly 
cultivated regions and had entered upon 
the tract of marshes and sand dunes, 
beyond which gleamed the sea. They 
were approaching Boulogne; Alexis’s 
66 


PENNILESS IN A STRANGE CITY, 

companion gathered his hand baggage 
together. 

‘‘You are going on to London,” said he; 
“and I shall stop over at Folkstone. I hope 
that when you arrive in New York you 
will look me up ; for I want to show you 
my wireless telegraph station. Here is my 
card. I shall be in America in three weeks. 
You will arrive a little before me; but not 
much, for my ship is a six days’ boat.” 
Alexis took the card, and read, “Mr. Ray 
Brown.” He handed his own card. In the 
hurry of the arrival. Brown did not read the 
name on the card, but put it carefully in his 
pocketbook. 

“ By the way,” said he, “ I took this route 
instead of that by Calais expressly to vent 
my spite on a rascally commissionaire who 
cheated me the last time I was here. If he 
appears again I shall be ready for him, for 
I have studied up enough French to settle 
him. I have you also to depend upon.” 

The train had now entered the station, 

67 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
and Brown and Alexis left their compart- 
ment. Their exit was impeded by a Ger- 
man, who dropped his many bundles to 
embrace two of his hirsute countrymen, 
and by a great poodle held in leash by a 
Frenchwoman. The dog wound the leash 
around Brown’s legs, and to prevent a fall 
he grasped the woman, who shrieked loudly. 
Brown’s knowledge of French suddenly was 
unavailable, but Alexis came to his aid; 
the Frenchwoman smiled upon the hand- 
some boy; he patted the dog, and they 
passed through the ticket-gatherer’s gate. 
A squat Frenchman, in blue blouse and 
wearing what looked like a dilapidated 
yachting cap with a large label on the visor, 
seized Brown’s dress-suit case. 

Brown wrenched it away from the man, 
exclaiming, ^^Here is the rascal!” He 
forgot again his French and ejaculated 
something which resembled Hamlet’s ex- 
clamation — “Ha! art thou there, true- 
penny! ” 


68 


PENNILESS IN A STRANGE CITY 

^‘Farther on! Va-t-en! Get out!” The 
commissionaire followed him to the side- 
walk, where Brown gave his dress-suit 
case to a boy. The commissionaire again 
pounced upon it, saying, Boy not allowed. 
It is not law.” Brown recovered his lug- 
gave it again to the boy, and shook 
his fist in the commissionaire’s face, while 
Alexis, in excellent French, soothed the 
official. 

When the steamboat arrived at Folk- 
stone, Alexis bade his new acquaintance 
good-by and took the train for London, 
on reaching which he had hardly time to 
drive to the Northwestern Station in time 
to take the train for Liverpool. By dint of 
urging and giving an extra fare he gained 
the station, with but a moment to spare, and, 
hurrying through the crowd on the plat- 
forms, took his seat in a compartment. He 
was now alone, and he could dwell upon 
the possibility of not meeting his father 
on the steamer. What if the widespread 
69 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
news of the plot and of his father’s escape 
should lead to capture and a return to Si- 
beria? The boy shuddered at the possibility 
and at the thought that he would soon be 
crossing the great ocean, each day increas- 
ing the separation. He sought his pocket- 
book to take out his father’s letter giving 
him directions. It was not in his breast 
pocket, nor in his outer coat. He searched 
with shaking hands, burying them repeat- 
edly in pockets that he had found empty on 
the first trial. The letter was gone, and all 
his money, together with his steamer tick- 
ets. He sank back in the compartment, while 
cold perspiration started upon his brow. 
He went over in his perturbed mind all the 
incidents of the journey. Could Brown have 
despoiled him? and was Brown a spy? It 
was certainly suspicious that he had been so 
much interested in the article in the French 
paper, and more so that he had left him at 
Folkstone. 

What was to be done? Should he apply 
70 


PENNILESS IN A STRANGE CITY 
to the Russian consul in Liverpool? No; 
information had probably been lodged with 
him of the flight of Count Orloff, together 
with a description of his son. To apply for 
aid would lead to questions which might 
result in ruin to his father. While he thought 
of his situation the train was drawing near 
Liverpool. The lights that danced by the 
train had a demoniacal look, cheerless as a 
flight of meteors to one lost in a wilder- 
ness. The happy meeting of families at the 
stations where the train stopped a moment 
before entering Liverpool awakened a pang 
in his heart. Perhaps an officer informed by 
telegraph was waiting for him at the sta- 
tion. This apprehensive thought drove out 
the consideration of how he should spend 
the night. He peered at the groups of peo- 
ple who were assembled on the platform 
as the train slowly came to a stop. A porter 
running alongside the train asked him if he 
should take his luggage. Alexis assented, 
and alighted, momentarily expecting to feel 

71 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
a heavy hand on his shoulder; but no one 
looked at him, fortunately or unfortunately. 
He was alone in a strange city. The porter 
asked if he should summon a cab. Alexis 
ordered the man to convey his luggage to 
the baggage room, and after giving the por- 
ter a small fee found that he had only a 
franc left. He must sit up all night in the 
railway station, or endeavor to sell some 
article of apparel to gain a night’s lodging. 

He passed out of the station and saw the 
dark, solemn St. George’s Hall loom across 
the street. He walked to the open space in 
front of the hall, and stood aimlessly beneath 
the statue of Queen Victoria. A wretch- 
edly dressed woman, carrying a baby, 
thrust out a thin hand, soliciting alms with 
a sobbing voice. The electric light made 
the pallid face of the baby still more pallid. 
Alexis fingered his last piece of money; 
but he was as poor as the woman, perhaps 
poorer, for she probably had some place of 
shelter for the night. 

72 


PENNILESS IN A STRANGE CITY 

To avoid seeing the woman he joined the 
throng on the sidewalk, and, entering a 
clothing store, asked where he could find a 
pawnbroker’s shop. The clerk stared, and 
could not tell him. Alexis then asked where 
he could find a boarding-house or inn 
resorted to by sailors. The clerk’s manner 
now became insolent, and he turned his 
back. A workingman who had heard the 
conversation followed Alexis from the shop, 
and gave him the address of a sailors’ board- 
ing-house. Alexis followed the directions, 
pondering over his situation. He probably 
could not dispose of any article of clothing 
at that hour of night, and he could not sing 
or play on any instrument for a lodging. 
As he thus thought he came to a picture 
store, entered, and bought a sketch-book 
with his last franc. He had a talent for 
caricature; perhaps he could make it 
available. 

The directions of the workman led him 
into the squalid parts of the city, where he 
73 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
jostled against drunken men who reeled 
out of beershops. Two loud-voiced girls, 
laughing immoderately and addressing him 
as ‘^my Lord,” asked him if they were on 
the right road to London; and he saw the 
woman with the baby, whom he had en- 
countered under the statue of Queen Vic- 
toria, asleep in a doorway. As he passed 
one of the gin shops two men came out, 
talking loudly and shaking their fists at each 
other. They slowly walked apart; then one 
stopped, ran up to the other, and struck 
him in the face. The one who received the 
blow immediately closed with his assailant, 
and was knocked into the gutter by his large 
adversary. Alexis went to the assistance of 
the fallen man, who was being badly pum- 
meled, and dragged off the burly fighter, 
who then struck out at Alexis. The latter 
might have obtained a nighPs lodging at 
a hospital if the appearance of a policeman 
had not caused the big ruffian to flee. The 
policeman, after making many inquiries, 
74 


PENNILESS IN A STRANGE CITY 
recommended the man who had been 
overborne and was wiping the blood 
from his face to keep the peace, and went 
on his way. 

‘‘I am only too willing,” muttered the 
man. ‘‘You are a good lad,” said he to 
Alexis. “ If that Bobby had not ap- 
peared, we could have finished that 
fellow.” 

Alexis handed him his hat, and asked 
if he could direct him to the sailors’ board- 
ing-house. 

“ That is where I am going,” said the 
man. “Come on and have a glass of beer 
with me.” 

As they walked Alexis gazed closely at 
his companion. He was thickset, had a 
bronzed face, and rolled as he walked; 
but this roll was not that of a drunken 
man, for his voice showed that he was 
sober. 

“ I was a fool,” he growled, “ to get into 
a street fight with that scoundrel, seeing 
75 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
that I must be in good trim for sailing to- 
morrow.” 

‘‘On what ship do you sail.^” asked 
Alexis. 

“ On the steamer Russia,” responded the 
man. “ I ’m the boatswain.” 

Alexis told of his intention to take that 
steamer, and of the robbery. The boatswain 
hit his fists together to express his warm 
sympathy, and also a desire to get at the 
thief and all other scoundrels; for his blood 
was still heated. 

“What will you do, boy?” he asked, 
pausing beneath a street light and holding 
Alexis by the shoulder. 

“If I do not meet my father I must 
work my way to New York. He gave 
me express orders to sail on the Russia.” 

“Express orders must be obeyed, com- 
ing from the captain of the family,” said 
the boatswain, lighting his pipe. “ Come in 
here, and let ’s talk it over.” 

They entered the public room of a house 

76 


PENNILESS IN A STRANGE CITY 

frequented by sailors. A bar extended 
along one side of the low room, in which 
were a number of rough-looking men 
smoking and drinking. A middle-aged, 
buxom woman, with a mass of frizzled 
hair, stood behind the bar. The floor was 
covered with sand, and a few prints hung 
on the walls, — foxhunters scurrying over 
downs, and engravings from the London 
‘‘Graphic’’ representing a view of the Eng- 
lish navy. The boatswain ordered beer, in 
a tone which made the sailors playing cards 
jump as if watch were called. The landlady 
bridled, but handed the beer to her subser- 
vient husband with the remark, “ Bill has 
just come on deck.” 

The boatswain drank, filled his pipe 
afresh, and looked fixedly at Alexis. “You 
said that you must ship anyway, father or 
no father. It is either the cabin or the fore- 
castle, hey ? ” 

Alexis assented, and asked if the boat- 
swain could ship him as a hand. 

77 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 

‘‘Not with those clothes,” replied his 
companion. “The officers would n’t let you 
aboard.” 

“ I have left a box at the station,” said 
Alexis, “ in which there is a fur coat. It is 
yours if you can provide me with a rough 
seaman’s jacket.” 

“ I am not an old-clothes man or a new- 
clothes man,” replied the boatswain. “ Can 
you see me in a fur coat? Bill in a fur 
coat!” He laughed at the thought. “No, 
man, keep your fur coat. I ’ll lend you an 
old jacket. Be on hand at the landing stage 
to-morrow morning at six sharp. The ship 
lies out in the stream, and I ’ll take you out 
with the stokers. I must see the old woman 
and the kids.” Thus saying, he rolled out 
of the lodging-house. 

Alexis felt that the plans for the next 
day had been arranged; but the night was 
unprovided for, and how could he get his 
box to the ship? He took his sketching 
blank and began to draw. The landlady 
78 


PENNILESS IN A STRANGE CITY 
looked at him suspiciously and whispered 
to her husband, who walked behind Alexis 
and gazed over his shoulder. Have you 
not seen, gentle reader, a picture of Pan 
piping to the pigs, which are represented 
as charmed by his music? You have not 
seen, however, a picture of an artist holding 
human beings enthralled by the motions 
of his pencil; yet the artist has as great 
a power to rivet attention as the mu- 
sician. The husband of the landlady was 
spellbound at the sight of the growth of a 
picture of the room, with the men seated 
at their tables, and was unconscious of the 
winks and the clawing in of the hands of 
his wife calling him back to report. His 
suppressed laughter and his strange con- 
tortion of delight, which consisted in draw- 
ing a foot of one leg up to the knee of the 
other leg, and ducking his head, attracted 
an audience. 

‘‘You are in it, Tom, as big as life,” said 
one, looking from the drawing to a man 
79 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


who sat with one leg on a table. Tom in- 
stantly withdrew his leg and adjusted his 
hair. 

“You are as pretty as life, Sammy,” 
laughed another. 

Alexis tore off the sheet from his block 
and handed it to the husband, who carried 
it to his wife. 

“ Draw the missus,” said Sammy, “ now 
you are speaking of prettiness.” Sammy 
had not paid his toll for several nights, and 
thought he knew the hearts of women. 

“ The missus draws, too,” said a joker. 
“ She draws the beer.” 

Shouts of laughter greeted this sally. 
The rapidity with which the boy drew and 
the cleverness of the sketches charmed the 
rough men. A sailor who had taken too 
much beer was aroused from slumber by 
the laughter, glared at the artist, and hic- 
coughed: “Pm for pulling down all the 
castles in England, and ’bolishing the House 
of Lords. Put that down.” 

8o 


PENNILESS IN A STRANGE CITY 
Sit up, Jim,” said Sammy. “ It ’s your 
face he wants, and not your thoughts.” 

Jim relapsed into slumber with an inane 
smile, saying there was not a better-look- 
ing man in Liverpool. 

The boatswain, on his way to his hum- 
ble home, suddenly bethought him that the 
boy had no money and no place to spend 
the night. He determined to get some 
money from the old woman ” and to 
return to the lodging-house. 

When he told his wife of the case of 
Alexis, she, who had had frequent experi- 
ences of her husband’s flights of imagina- 
tion when he had been drinking, advised 
him to go to bed to prepare for the morn- 
ing work. The boatswain knew that it 
would be of no use to storm, for his help- 
mate had complete command of the family 
finances; so he asked her to accompany 
him to the lodging-house and see the boy, 
adding that he was like their boy who died 
destitute in a far-off city in India. The 

8i 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 

good woman, with a look at her husband 
which expressed mingled doubt and sor- 
row, put on her bonnet and shawl and 
accompanied him to the lodging-house. 

As they entered the landlady bristled, 
and said in loud tones : ‘‘ Glad to see you, 
marm. Your husband gets his beer when- 
ever he’s got the money to pay for it; you 
need n’t think you can stop the lawful busi- 
ness of this house.” 

My woman has not come to complain,” 
interposed the boatswain. 

“ She ’s come, perhaps, to have her pic- 
ture taken,” said the landlady sarcastically. 

“ Did you bring me here to be insulted 
by that ’ere woman ? ” said the boatswain’s 
wife, clutching at her gown with her fin- 
gers. 

‘‘ Here is the young man,” quickly inter- 
posed the boatswain, well knowing the 
valor of his wife. The latter looked at 
Alexis, and was softened by his resem- 
blance to her boy, lost so many years ago. 

82 


PENNILESS IN A STRANGE CITY 

Ye see, gentlemen,” said the boatswain 
to the company, who were in pleasant 
expectancy of a war of words between an 
enraged wife and the landlady, who had 
often been commanded not to give the 
boatswain credit, “this ^ere lad has had 
his pocketbook stolen on his way up from 
Lunnon. He has lost his steamer tickets, 
and has no place to sleep to-night. To- 
morrow he ships with me on the Russia, 
to work his passage to America. I asked 
my wife to come round and give him a 
lift. She knows what it is to have had a boy 
stranded in a strange city with no place to 
lay his head.” 

“We don’t need to apply to a woman to 
help,” said the man who was called Tom. 
“ Here, lads, pass the hat round”; and thus 
saying he grabbed off his cap, put a shil- 
ling in it, and handed it to Sam, who in 
turn deposited a shilling. 

Alexis proudly stopped their kind action. 
“ I ’m willing to work for a night’s lodg- 

83 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
ing/’ he exclaimed. I appreciate with all 
my heart your kindness, but I can’t take 
your money in this way. If any of you are 
willing to sit for a portrait for a shilling a 
head, I shall hope to make enough to 
satisfy kind madam, who no doubt will let 
me pay for a night’s lodging.” 

The young gentleman is welcome to a 
bed,” responded the landlady, with a Par- 
thian shaft directed to the boatswain’s wife. 

He has n’t any wife.” 

The boatswain’s wife settled her bonnet 
firmly on her head, gave a look of scorn at 
the woman, took out a sum of money, and 
put it down on the table before Alexis. 
‘‘ In memory of my boy,” said she, with a 
sob, and, taking her husband by the coat- 
sleeve, led him away. 

As Alexis sketched the portraits of the 
simple, rude men, he wondered if he would 
have had as hospitable a reception in any 
fashionable hotel whefe he might have 
sought a lodging. An aristocrat by birth, 
84 


PENNILESS IN A STRANGE CITY 
he had often wondered at his father’s in- 
terest in the rough-bearded men with whom 
both he and Professor Valdov seemed so 
intimate. Possibly in the desolate towns 
of Siberia the count had found kindness 
and hospitality among those the world calls 
the lower classes. 

The landlady was so pleased by the 
sketch of herself, which emphasized the 
remnants of youthful beauty she was fully 
conscious of possessing, that she sent for 
her child, in order to get his ^^picter.” 
The child toddled in and was lifted to the 
bar, and the group of men watched the 
growth of the sketch. 

He ’s putting in the eyes,” said one. 
‘^The nose is coming,” cried another. 

Don’t laugh, sonny, he ’s on your mug.” 

Notwithstanding such directions for pos- 
ing, the child, like most children who sit for 
their portraits, became convulsively active. 

“ It ’s like catching sheet lightning,” said 
a sympathetic observer. 

85 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
After a few more sketches had been 
made, the company lost their interest and 
went their different ways. The landlady 
assigned Alexis a room, and he fell asleep 
hearing the stumbling steps of lodgers as 
they ascended the stairs to their various 
quarters. This taste of life among the lowly 
might serve to enhance the life which was 
coming when his father would rejoin him. 
When? Ah I that was the question. 


CHAPTER VI 


AFLOAT WITH ENEMIES 

In the early morning, after a simple break- 
fast, he left the lodging-house, thanking the 
landlady, who was hustling about mopping 
up the floors, arranging the bottles on the 
bar, and growling at him who is asleep 
and ought to be up tending to his work.” 
Alexis left his remembrances to the hus- 
band, — the him,” — leaving with the 
landlady the impression of a gentleman and 
an artist. He ordered a cab, proceeded 
to the station to get his luggage, and on 
being driven to the landing stage paid the 
driver out of the sum given him by the 
boatswain’s wife, resolving to repay the 
boatswain speedily, and on his arrival in 
New York to send her a gift of remem- 
brance, a gift with the Orloff arms im- 
printed on it. 


87 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
The boatswain met him, and together 
with a number of sailors they were soon 
rowing out to a steamship which was 
lying in the stream waiting her turn to 
draw up to the landing stage, where a 
great ocean liner which had arrived from 
America was discharging her passengers. 
The early morning was chilly, and the air 
was heavy with coal smoke mixed with a 
beery smell remindful of the barroom of the 
lodging-house where Alexis had spent the 
night. The sun’s place in the eastern sky 
just above the tall chimneys was indicated 
by a yellowish gleam framed by wreaths 
of black smoke. An artist painting the 
scene would have needed no colors save 
india ink and sepia, a touch of red for a 
flag, a tawny yellow for the wake of a 
bustling tug which seemed to be in danger 
of being submerged at the stern. A bit of 
charcoal, aided by rubbing of the thumb, 
would have been sufficient to represent 
the city. There were no green and gold 
88 


AFLOAT WITH ENEMIES 
domes rising above red-tiled housetops; 
only church steeples, as dark and sombre 
as the houses which they overtopped. 
Along the street above the landing stage 
were groups of the unemployed gazing at 
the shipping, at the receding boat which 
was conveying Alexis to the steamer, and 
at the busy scene of landing passengers 
from the steamer at the stage. The ragged 
garments of these lookers-on was in tone 
with the general murkiness of the scene. 
There was a uniformity in felt hats with 
round low crowns, which were once black 
but now would require from our artist a 
touch of his tawny brown. Alexis had 
never seen such a row of tattered trousers. 
There were no blue blouses of moujiks, 
red coats of Cossacks, or white uniforms of 
officers. 

Presently the boat reached the steamer’s 
side, and the occupants were transferred 
on board. An officer looked sharply at 
Alexis, who had donned the pea-jacket 
89 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
lent by the boatswain, but still had on 
his Parisian trousers and his French boots. 
If there had not been difficulty in secur- 
ing a crew, he might have ordered Alexis 
ashore, with the remark, ‘^We don’t want 
dandies aboard but he hustled him below 
deck, with a loud command to a waiting 
tug. 

The steamer at the landing stage was 
drawing out into the stream, making way 
for the Russia, which, assisted by the tug, 
sidled up to the stage and began to take 
on passengers’ effects. Alexis, from a po- 
sition on the lower deck, carefully scanned 
the waiting crowd. His father and the pro- 
fessor were not there; but there was yet 
time, for the seaman who was gazing over 
the rail near Alexis remarked that the 
train from Lunnon ” was not in. The 
steamer always waited for it. Loads of 
trunks were wheeled along the stage to 
points where they could be swung aboard. 
Anxious passengers followed these loads, 
90 


AFLOAT WITH ENEMIES 


examining the labels. Men and women 
gesticulated; but slowly, as if partly over- 
come by the heavy atmosphere. There 
was no frantic embracing. 

Alexis had not overcome his fear of de- 
tectives, and scrutinized the appearance of 
two men who had taken a position near 
the entrance to the stairs which probably 
led to a point to which the gangway would 
be swung when the ship should be ready 
for the passengers. These men looked like 
Germans; they wore soft black felt hats, 
which were pressed well down over their 
brows, and their eyes were concealed by 
spectacles. When the luggage was all 
aboard and the gangway in position, these 
men did not join the stream of boarding 
passengers, but remained at the foot of the 
stairs. Alexis’s eyes ranged from a quick 
inspection of each passenger to these men. 

Presently a distant shrill whistle was 
heard. There ’s the train from Lunnon,” 
said Alexis’s companion. In a moment a 

91 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
stream of people came upon the landing 
stage ; they had come by the train. Alexis’s 
heart beat rapidly, and his gaze was with- 
drawn from a study of the two waiting 
men to a scrutiny of the new arrivals. 
What if he should see these waiting men 
walk up to the tall figure of his father and 
take him into custody! Was this appre- 
hensive picture conjured up by anxiety, or 
had it some reason for impressing itself on 
his consciousness? Strange to say, he had 
a feeling of relief when he could not dis- 
cover his father and Professor Valdov. 

The stream of passengers coming aboard 
began to grow less, and the bell of the 
steamer sounded, warning those who did 
not intend to sail to go ashore. The friends 
of the passengers took positions on the 
landing stage to wave their last adieus, and 
the stream of people on the gangway was 
reversed in direction. The bell, instead of 
ringing continuously, sounded portentously 
af well-marked intervals, and the ship’s 
92 


AFLOAT WITH ENEMIES 
crew took their places to remove the gang- 
way. Alexis saw the two men emerge from 
their corner and ascend the stairs to the 
gangway. As they made their way to the 
ship a sudden encounter with a young Eng- 
lishman bounding ashore knocked off the 
hat of one of the men, and disclosed a large 
face without eyebrows. The boy shrank 
back from the rail with almost an exultant 
thought. They had not found his father. 
Perhaps they were going merely to Queens- 
town, thinking to intercept the fugitive 
there while the steamer took on another 
quota of passengers. As Alexis thought 
of this possibility, the exultant feeling 
died out. There was room for fresh 
anxiety. 

The great steamer moved slowly from 
the stage, and a line of waving handker- 
chiefs brightened the sombre background. 
Little tugs steamed by the great hull of the 
steamship, like small boys anxious to show 
their possibilities of speed to a bulky police- 
93 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


man. The steamship was not aroused to a 
contest with such insignificant competitors, 
and proceeded majestically, blowing out 
steam from orifices in her hull like sniffs 
of disdain. A flock of gulls began to circle 
about the vessel ; instinctive aeroplanes 
destined forever to humiliate aspiring in- 
ventors of flying machines. 

The boatswain gave Alexis another suit 
of clothes, and set him to work coiling ropes 
and cleaning brasses on the lower deck. 
As the day wore away and the night came 
on Alexis kept steadily at work, trying to 
forget his perplexities and subdue his ap- 
prehensions. 

The steamer was proceeding at full 
speed, and the distant lights were those of 
ships, and not lights of the shore. While at 
work in the aft portion of the ship Alexis 
heard the familiar sound of crackling elec- 
tric sparks, and spelled the words, “Russia 
proceeding to Qjieenstown.” A seaman 
pointed to a small house raised above the 
94 


AFLOAT WITH ENEMIES 
lower deck, and said, “Wireless station. 
The man in there is talking to yonder 
steamer.” 

Alexis looked in the direction the sea- 
man pointed, and saw a row of lights. He 
wished that he might get a message from 
his father. The taps by sparks continued at 
intervals, but revealed nothing of interest. 
The operator on the Russia was evidently 
having a conversation with a friend on the 
distant steamer. 

The boy reflected how his thoughts ran 
upon his father, and he believed that his 
father’s mind was also occupied with 
thoughts of him; but the grosser senses 
appealed to through the ears and the eyes 
could not register a possible intercourse by 
means of some subtle influence of mind on 
mind. 

Plato doubtless would not have given 
heed to a dream of wireless telegraphy; 
and shall we close our minds to the possi- 
bility of communion with friends by means 
95 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY, 
of some process of mental telegraphy yet 
to be discovered? 

Alexis’s watch at length was over, and 
he turned in, tired with the unusual efforts 
of the day. The steamer was late in arriv- 
ing at Queenstown, and it was morning 
when the throbbing of the engines stopped. 
He looked out of a porthole and saw a 
long line of coast, surmounted here and 
there by martello towers seen through 
a flock of squeaking gulls. He quickly 
dressed and went on deck. In the distance 
a small tug was seen approaching the 
steamer. In front of the tug were a num- 
ber of small sailboats, urged on both by 
sails and oars. One of these soon drew 
alongside. The men who were in it un- 
shipped the sail, and a woman, looking 
up at the row of faces gazing down from 
the steamer’s rail, held up a handful of 
apples. 

Throw me a rope, lad,” said she to a 
young man. You are a fine lad.” 

96 


AFLOAT WITH ENEMIES 

^‘My mother always said so,” replied 
the latter. 

Faith, she must have been an Irish- 
woman,” retorted the woman, pushing on 
her bonnet, which had fallen on her shoul- 
ders as she gazed upward. ‘‘ Here ’s a bit 
of fine Irish lace for your girl.” 

haven’t any girl,” said the young 

man. 

“ It ’s lucky for the girl,” said the woman. 
‘^Five apples for a shilling.” 

They are cheaper in Liverpool,” said a 
man. 

Go back and get thim I ” cried the 
woman. 

Alexis left the joking crowd and crossed 
to the opposite side of the steamer, where 
the tug would soon be. As it approached 
he eagerly scanned its group of passengers. 
Above him, on the upper deck, stood 
Bushy and Bare, among a group of first- 
class passengers who were watching the 
operation of transferring the people from 
97 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
the tug to the steamer. Count Orloff and 
Professor Valdov were not among them. 
Alexis, unobserved, closely scrutinized 
Bushy and Bare. They were deeply occu- 
pied in conversation, and presently left 
their point of observation and disappeared 
from sight. Alexis thought that, not finding 
their prey, they were about to leave the 
steamer on the tug, which would soon re- 
turn to Queenstown. 

The cargo of the latter had all been 
transferred; a group of huckster women 
gathered at its bow were frantically hold- 
ing up their wares, offering them at a great 
reduction of price, while a basket strung on 
a rope was passing up and down, carrying 
Irish shawls and fruit to the steamer and 
returning with shillings. 

Here ’s a shilling for an Irish snake I ” 
cried a would-be funny man. 

^‘Keep it!’’ shouted back a buxom wo- 
man. ‘‘ You got one in your bosom.” 

The wheels of the tug began to revolve ; 

98 


AFLOAT WITH ENEMIES 
the basket had made its last journey; and 
the tug moved away, while its captain 
waved an adieu to the officers of the great 
steamship. Bushy and Bare were not on 
the tug. The small boats slipped astern and 
the bargaining women sat down, while the 
men, who had remained silent, trusting to 
the superior bartering powers of the wo- 
men, now were active in lifting their sails. 

The gulls which had been poised in the 
air, hardly moving their wings while they 
watched with quick turns of their heads, 
suddenly joined a cloud of companions 
and swooped with them upon a mass of re- 
fuse floating astern. The great ship swung 
about and started upon its long ocean voy- 
age. 


CHAPTER VII 


WIRELESS MESSAGES OF FEAR AND HOPE 

On the second day out from Queenstown 
the steamer ran into a storm, and during 
the night suddenly stopped. Many of the 
passengers left their staterooms, and, gath- 
ering in the saloon, eagerly interrogated 
every officer who appeared in regard to 
the cause of the stopping, but obtained lit- 
tle information. 

One lady was especially importunate, and 
finally stood in the way of a young officer 
who was hurrying along a passageway. 

Do tell me, what is the reason of our 
stopping ? ” she asked. 

The officer, who had been asked the 
same question twenty times, replied blandly. 
The ship’s doctor, madctm, has lost a set 
of false teeth in the hold.” 

It was finally known that a man had 


lOO 


MESSAGES OF FEAR AND HOPE 
been lost overboard. The operator of the 
wireless telegraph, in endeavoring with the 
help of seamen to secure wires connected 
to his station which had been broken loose 
during the gale, had leaned too far over 
the ship’s rail and had lost his balance. A 
boat had been lowered a short distance, but 
was raised again, for it was realized that it 
could not live in the heavy seas. The dark 
form of the steamship was dimly outlined 
as it rose and fell, like the thought of an 
artist, a mysterious phantom expressed in 
charcoal riding on mountainous seas. Who 
can imagine the terror of the unfortunate 
man as he struggled in that sea ? That ter- 
ror was succeeded by peace and quietude, 
much as the terror of the passengers gave 
way to joy when the new activity of the en- 
gines promised a continuance of life. Far 
above the shroud of clouds, and unseen, the 
stars were shining. 

The life-preservers had been drawn 
aboard; the attempt at saving had been 


lOI 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
abandoned, and the ship was on her way. 
An officer in company with the purser 
stood near Alexis, having quieted the fears 
of the steerage. The purser said, I have 
a number of wireless messages which were 
to have been sent. Those singular-looking 
men I pointed out to you yesterday — Rus- 
sians, I judge from their names; one with 
mustaches over his eyes instead of over his 
mouth, the other with an enormous baby 
face without eyebrows — have received a 
wireless which they are extremely anxious 
to answer. There is no one on the ship 
who can work the wireless apparatus.” 

Alexis was about to offer his services, 
stimulated to an intense eagerness by this 
remark; but he felt it would be courteous 
first to consult the boatswain, to whom he 
had been so much indebted. As he made 
his way along a dark passage to find the 
latter, he thought of the inkling he might 
obtain of the plans of the two mysterious 
men, and of the possibility that his father 


102 


MESSAGES OF FEAR AND HOPE 
might be endeavoring to get into communi- 
cation with him. He met the boatswain hur- 
rying aft to see how the boy had made fast 
the loose wire that had caused the disaster. 

The boatswain was about to break forth 
into an oath, for he had ordered Alexis to 
stand by until relieved ; but the gleam of 
a lamp revealed a look on Alexis’s face 
which so strongly reminded him of his lost 
son that the oath died on his lips. Sorrow 
at the thought of losing one whom he had 
come to regard almost as his own mingled 
with wonder. 

You can send wireless messages ? This 
time you ’ll draw a good job instead of 
faces. A good seaman will be spoiled by 
being set to the work of a woman. I don’t 
believe in filling the air with care. You’ll 
have enough of trouble when you land. 
There used to be peace in mid-Atlantic. 
The purser got a wireless last trip when 
we were one day out, which set him on 
edge the whole of the trip, when he might 
103 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
have enjoyed his pipe; he was signaling 
every ship all the way across.” 

The boatswain growled this opinion on 
wireless telegraphy as he sought the officer 
of the deck. The latter took Alexis to the 
purser, who in turn took him to the cap- 
tain. After a few interrogatories it was 
agreed that Alexis should take charge of 
the wireless station, and should have a 
stateroom in the portion of the ship devoted 
to second-class passengers, which had the 
advantage of being near his work. The 
purser took Alexis to his office, and handed 
him a number of messages to send. Here 
is one,” said he, picking over the messages, 
which a passenger is very anxious to send 
as speedily as possible.” Alexis took the 
message and read: — 

To Stolpel, Russian Consulate, Liver- 
pool. Orloff not on board. Shall watch 
Romanoff, New York. 


Petrovich. 


MESSAGES OF FEAR AND HOPE 

‘‘ By the way,” said the purser, favor 
me with your name.” 

“Alexis Sergius Orloff,” Alexis replied. 

He took the messages and climbed to 
the wireless station. The arrangement of 
apparatus was similar to that in the pro- 
fessor’s laboratory at Kasan. 

He took up the receiver and listened. 
It was evident that some one was calling 
the ship. He listened intently and spelled 
out: — 

Steamer Russia. To Petrovich. Have 
learned that Orloff’s boy is aboard. Hold 
him on arrival. New York. 

Stolpel. 

“ How very interesting ! ” said Alexis. 
“ I think the boy will hold this mes- 
sage.” 

He listened again, hoping that the depths 
of space would yet yield a message from 
his father. He caught a message from a 
steamer below the horizon, passing in the 

105 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
night, which was intended for the wireless 
station on the Irish coast; another eman- 
ated from an English man-of-war; another 
was in cipher. It seemed as if the thunder- 
storm accompanied by wind and rain, which 
was passing, had given place to another 
commotion of electric waves. 

The purser looked into the station with 
a countenance of distrust. It had occurred 
to him that it was easy for this boy to gain 
a comfortable passage by pretending that 
he could officiate as a wireless telegraph 
operator. He had framed a message to the 
steamship office in Liverpool which would 
test Alexis. The latter immediately sent it, 
and in a few moments handed the purser 
an answer. 

‘‘Wonderful, is n’t it.?” he remarked. 

After Alexis had reported the answer, 
and after asking many questions in regard 
to the apparatus, the purser left the station, 
satisfied in regard to the honesty of the new 
operator. 


io6 


MESSAGES OF FEAR AND HOPE 

Alexis then took up the receiver with a 
strong intuition that he would hear from 
his father. With a touch of superstition he 
willed with intensity that his father should 
speak to him ; and by a strange coincidence, 
or, as he thought, by a mysterious effect of 
mind on mind, the longed-for message flying 
through space was entangled in the wires 
suspended from a spar of the steamship. It 
read : — 

Steamer Russia. Alexis Orloff. Detained 
London. Must return to Paris. Will sail in 
two weeks. How are you? Send answer 
to Hotel Northumberland, London. 

Orloff. 

With an overjoyed heart, Alexis tapped 
a response. The fates had been more than 
kind. 

What should he say if this Petrovich, 
who was undoubtedly one of the spies, 
should ask if a message had been received 
for him? Professor Valdov, as guardian of 
107 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


the count’s son, had inculcated a stern sense 
of morality. He repeatedly had said, Do 
right, even if in doing it you must die.” 
Alexis reflected that it was his duty to 
transmit all messages that were received; 
yet the delivery of the message to Petro- 
vich might lead to a search of the steam- 
ship. Should a telegraph operator who had 
received a message which informed a would- 
be assassin where and when to kill him, 
deliver the message.^ The professor would 
undoubtedly answer, ‘^Yes, it is your duty; 
and, having done it, draw your sword.” 

Alexis thought that not only was he 
threatened, but also his father. But he saw 
the face of the Professor before him, almost 
as if some system of wireless telegraphy 
had transmitted it, illumined by electric 
phosphorescence against the darkness of 
the night, with the lips formed to utter the 
word ‘‘ Duty.” 

As the boy fingered the fateful message, a 
steward thrust his face into the station and 
io8 


MESSAGES OF FEAR AND HOPE 

asked for messages; the purser had many 
inquiries for them. Alexis handed out the 
bundle, which included the one to Petro- 
vich. 

Bushy and Bare were standing at the 
window of the purser’s office when the 
steward appeared with the messages, and 
drew apart from the throng of passengers 
to read the communication addressed to 
Petrovich. They gazed at each other like 
hounds which, having lost a scent, had sud- 
denly regained it, and waited to see which 
would lead. 

“ His name is not on the list of first-class 
passengers,” said Bushy. 

‘‘We will get a list of the second-class 
and the steerage,” replied Bare. 

He applied to the purser, who gave the 
list with an air of impatience; for these 
two Russians had aroused his antagonism, 
because they had continually grumbled at 
their accommodations. He was, moreover, 
nettled by the complaints of a lady who, hav- 
109 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 

ing changed her seat at the saloon table six 
times, was applying for a seventh change. 

He is not down on any of these lists,” 
said Bare. “Perhaps Stolpel is mistaken.” 

“He may be among the crew,” said 
Bushy. 

Bare asked the purser for a list of the 
names of the crew. The purser by this 
time was irritated beyond measure. 

“What are you, anyway.?” he roared. 
“ High cockalorum inspectors of the At- 
lantic Ocean? Guardians of weak-minded 
youth? Union labor leaders?” 

“We are gentlemen,” retorted Bushy. 

“ Keep so,” replied the purser, hurrying 
away to show the lady a new seat. 

“We must apply to the captain,” said 
Bare, wrinkling his nose like a mastiff who 
regretted not to have fastened its teeth in a 
retreating dog. 

“ He would tell us to apply to the 
purser,” replied Bushy. “ Our method will 
be to watch at the time of landing.” 


no 


MESSAGES OF FEAR AND HOPE 

It did not occur to them that the tele- 
graph operator might be the boy they 
were in search of. If the thought had 
entered their minds, it would have been 
instantly dismissed ; for the boy would 
have destroyed the message which in- 
formed against himself. Meanwhile Alexis 
rose with the dawn, taking a hand at the 
ropes with his friend the boatswain, to 
assure him that he was not forgotten; keep- 
ing close in the station during the day, 
having posted a sign, ‘^No visitors allowed; 
danger of shocks.” This notice proved 
very efficacious, for many inquisitive per- 
sons ascended the ladder which led to 
the station, and, hearing a fearful crackling 
of sparks, descended incontinent, and told 
their wives of the danger to which they 
had been subjected and of their valiant 
manner of escaping it. According to their 
account the very air about the station was 
heavily charged with electricity. 

Alexis often saw through his window 


III 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


Bushy and Bare. They had apparently 
made friends with the third officer, who 
conducted them through the steerage, and 
probably down to the engines and into the 
forecastle. The boy could appreciate the 
feelings of a fox who from a cover sees 
two hounds circling about its retreat. The 
remembrance of these feelings might make 
him less fond of hunting game in the years 
to come. 

The steamship had passed out of wire- 
less touch with land, and was restricted to 
communications with passing steamers. A 
chart covered with hundreds of intersect- 
ing lines was displayed, along with the 
daily run of the steamship, on the stairway 
leading to the dining saloon. It showed 
where the ship would be in communica- 
tion with ships of other lines. If the wire- 
less messages could be represented by 
flocks of gulls, the heavens would be dark- 
ened. The purser endeavored to explain 
this chart to the lady who changed her 


1 12 


MESSAGES OF FEAR AND HOPE 
seat so often; but in vain. She remarked 
that she had never felt well since the in- 
troduction of wireless telegraphy. Elec- 
tricity made her nervous. 

Oh, indeed! ” replied the purser, “ it is 
electricity, is it, which makes you change 
your seat so often You can’t avoid it, 
madam, if it really makes up its mind to 
make for you.” 

The steamer had entered upon a calm 
sea, and Bushy and Bare, in common with 
the rest of the passengers, fell into that 
indolent mood which a steady keel, bright 
sunshine, and the monotonous clickety- 
click of the engines induce. The long wake, 
like a streamer waving adieu to the old 
continent, extended almost to the horizon, 
and the steerage passengers gathered at the 
bow and surmised about the new continent, 
which soon would rise above the level line 
of the ocean. Occasionally there was a rush 
to the rail to see a school of porpoises imi- 
tating ponderous wheels half out of water. 

113 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 

It was only six days since hundreds of 
ships had been passed in the channel, but 
the absence of all objects even during so 
short a time as six days can make the ap- 
pearance of a floating log frantically inter- 
esting. The third officer, disregarding the 
notice which Alexis had pinned on the door 
of the wireless station, entered on one of 
these calm days, and, seating himself with 
an air of nonchalance on a piece of electri- 
cal apparatus, said that he had considerable 
knowlec^e of electricity, having attended 
lectures given at Woolwich; he never un- 
derstood, however, how many volts there 
were in an ampere. Alexis was listening 
at the receiver, and bowed his head to 
indicate that after he had disentangled the 
jumble of messages in the air he might 
disentangle the jumble in the mind of the 
officer. 

‘‘ Pretty tiresome, is n’t it,” remarked the 
officer, “ to be a recording angel ? I should 
think telephone girls would pray not to 
114 


'MESSAGES OF FEAR AND HOPE 
receive wings ” He laughed to himself, 
and, not receiving any hospitable remark 
from the absorbed operator, took out a note- 
book and jotted down his joke for further 
use. 

As I said,” he continued, I have paid 
much attention to electricity; but I Ve 
dropped it. Pope was about right when he 
said the proper study of man is man. You 
can get a broad view of things by studying 
literature, whereas you see only inch views 
in science. By the way, you are a German, 
I suppose? No; a Frenchman, perhaps. A 
Russian — What’s the matter?” 

Alexis had put out his hand, while he 
held the receiver to his ear, enjoining si- 
lence. Fortunately at that moment a mes- 
senger came for the officer. Did he suspect 
that Alexis was the boy that Bushy and 
Bare were seeking? 

The calm weather had now given way 
to a southeasterly gale, and the great 
steamship pitched and rolled like a cockle 
IIS 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
boat. Alexis from his elevated station 
could see in the gloom of the night the 
bow descend, as if the ship was about to 
dive like a porpoise, and then, changing its 
purpose, it rose and shook off a mass of 
foam. On the second day of the storm he 
noticed a redness far off on the horizon, 
and, putting the receiver to his ear, lis- 
tened. The roar of the wind was such that 
he could not at first distinguish any de- 
cided taps. Presently, however, he dis- 
tinguished words, and, seizing a blank, he 
rapidly wrote : — 

“Steamer Victoria, on fire. Can’t you 
stand by? ” 

He answered: — 

“Message received, steamer Russia. Will 
try to help.” 

He descended from the station and sought 
the boatswain, who communicated with the 
officers. 

It was realized that no boats could live 
in the raging sea; but it was determined to 

ii6 


MESSAGES OF FEAR AND HOPE 
steer for the light of the burning ship, in 
the hope that after the storm had lessened 
help might be rendered. At last the morn- 
ing dawned, the clouds broke, and a stream 
of smoke was seen in the east; this un- 
doubtedly came from the burning vessel, 
which was below the horizon. The course 
of the Russia was directed toward the 
smoke, and presently the flaming ship came 
into view. The fire seemed to be confined 
to the forward part of the vessel; for through 
glasses the crew were seen collected aft. 
Alexis could not see any mast or spar. The 
antennae, or wires, by means of which the 
unfortunate men could receive messages, 
had gone by the board ; and the crew were 
frantically signaling by flags. Their ves- 
sel was laden with oil and gasoline, and it 
was feared that the cargo might explode 
at any instant. 

The sea was mountains high, and the 
captain did not dare to order boats launched; 
he signaled, however, to the burning ship 
117 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
that he would stand by in hopes that the 
sea would go down. Every moment it was 
feared that the flames would reach the 
gasoline. Toward noon the captain called 
for volunteers to man the lifeboat; more 
offered than were sufficient. After great 
effort the boat was launched, and, cheered 
by cries from the passengers gathered on 
the upper deck, rowed for the distressed 
vessel. The third officer, who had inter- 
viewed Alexis, was in command of the life- 
boat, and the boatswain was with him. The 
great waves every now and then shut out 
the view of the rescuers and of the burning 
vessel. As the Russia rose from the trough 
of the seas, the lifesavers were seen again, 
rowing lustily. Soon they were so distant 
that only those who had long-range glasses 
could watch their progress. 

‘^Now,” said an officer, “they have 
reached the vessel and are taking men 
aboard.’’ He uttered an exclamation as he 
said this, and talked with a companion 

ii8 


MESSAGES OF FEAR AND HOPE 
officer who was also following the events 
at the distant vessel. 

In a short while the lifeboat hove in sight, 
filled with a cowering number beside the 
rowers; and, coming alongside the pitch- 
ing steamer, the rescued were transferred 
aboard. They were a sorry-looking lot, 
covered with burns. More volunteers were 
called for to take the place of the ex- 
hausted crew, and again the boat started 
for those that had been left. Toward night 
all the survivors had been taken from the 
burning vessel, and as the Russia proceeded 
on her way flames were seen to shoot up, 
apparently to the zenith; there was a muffled 
roar; the gasoline had exploded, and all 
trace of the doomed vessel disappeared. 

The boatswain told Alexis of the rescue. 
The third officer was drowned, having 
been thrown out of the lifeboat by its sud- 
den lurching on nearing the burning vessel. 
The boatswain, with a pistol, threatened 
to shoot any one who attempted to jump 
119 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
into the lifeboat before the injured were 
transferred. He took on board on the first 
trip the captain of the burning ship, who 
had broken a leg, together with the men 
who had valiantly fought the fiames for 
hours, and who were severely burned. As 
he rowed away, those that were left pit- 
eously asked if he would return. Sure,’’ 
he replied, and the answer was greeted by 
a faint cheer. On his last trip all were 
taken, and a dog anxiously ran up and 
down the portion of the deck free from 
fiames. 

‘‘Can we take the dog.^” asked the last 
survivors. 

“Sure,” replied the boatswain, patting 
his knees as an invitation; the dog gave a 
great leap and cuddled down in the bow 
of the lifeboat. 

“ I wish you had been with us,” said the 
boatswain to Alexis. “ It was work for a 
big lad like you. A woman can do your 
work with those sparks.” 


120 


MESSAGES OF FEAR AND HOPE 
If it had not been for wireless tele- 
graphy,” replied Alexis somewhat haught- 
ily, those poor seamen would have been 
blown up.” 

‘^True,” remarked the boatswain; ^‘but 
it is n’t man’s work for a well set-up lad 
like you. It ’s woman’s work, I tell ye. A 
man wants to feel his muscles at work; 
electricity is a thing of the nerves, just fit 
for women folks.” The boatswain still had 
a dream of persuading the boy to ship with 
him and supply him with a constant re- 
membrance of his lost son. The third 
officer,” he continued, ^‘used to fool with 
sparks, and spend all his spare time in this 
station with the operator what was lost. 
He gave up your sort of work some time 
ago, and died like a man.” 

Alexis, at command of the captain, who 
said the ship was now six hundred miles 
from New York, sent a wireless message 
announcing her coming. The voyage was 
nearly over, and the passengers began to 


I2I 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
arrange their baggage for the inspection 
at the custom house. On the day following 
the sending of the message land was seen, 
and in a few hours the city with its sky- 
scrapers was approached. Alexis looked 
for cathedral domes, but saw only a church 
between two enormously overshadowing 
buildings; both the church spire and the 
lofty buildings pointing to heaven, but the 
buildings devoted to business getting the 
start of the church fane. 

Over all gleamed a sunshine which 
Alexis had never imagined. The harbor 
was full of crafts of every description, 
from ocean liners outward bound to tugs 
which were scurrying to and fro. Excur- 
sion steamboats passed, laden to the wa- 
ter’s edge, while graphophones snarled. 

There ’ll be a hot time in the old town 
to-night.” A dilapidated tug with an un- 
manageable whistle, which gave a cracked 
note followed by a bellow, and had a large 
sign on the smokestack, “No patent on 


122 


MESSAGES OF FEAR AND HOPE 
this whistle/’ crept by the Russia on one 
side; and on the other were two tugs tied 
together, a large one and a very small one. 
The large one had a sign Father,” and the 
small one Son.” 

Alexis looked upon the busy scene, 
and felt that he was a man without a 
country. Henceforth his patriotism would 
be aroused by that country which pro- 
mised to give him liberty and the pursuit 
of happiness. 

There was an old woman who had 
strained her eyes at the steamer’s bows for 
days, seated upon her poor bundle waiting 
to be received by her children, who had 
left her side so many years ago. They 
would not meet her, being afraid of an in- 
cumbrance; and the immigrant-inspectors, 
fearing that she would be a burden on the 
country, would refuse to allow her to land 
and she would be compelled to return to 
Ireland on the same ship which had borne 
her to a land of promise. There were jab- 
123 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
bering Italians, morose-looking Poles, and 
light-hearted Irish. On the upper deck was 
a group of pleasure-loving people: a bride- 
groom and bride thinking of a joyous recep- 
tion by their relatives, automobilists who 
were returning from successful trips on the 
Continent, business men who were confi- 
dent from their study of opportunities of 
trade that York ’’ is the place. Bushy and 
Bare, from a well-chosen position, studied 
the steerage, expecting to see the appear- 
ance of a stowaway. 

When the steamer docked, Alexis de- 
scended from his station and sought the 
boatswain. The latter told him of a humble 
lodging-house near the pier. He still had 
hopes that the boy would decide to reship 
with him. 

New York,” said he, ‘^is a homeless 
place, worse than Liverpool if you have n’t 
a dollar in your pocket.” 

‘^And can’t find boatswain Joe,” smiled 
Alexis. 


124 


MESSAGES OF FEAR AND HOPE 
‘‘You know where to find me,” replied 
the boatswain, with a sudden hope. “ This 
ship is right here every month.” 


CHAPTER VIII 


FOES AND A FRIEND 

Alexis waited until the throng of passen- 
gers had landed. From a recess he watched 
until he saw Bushy and Bare descend the 
gangway, and under pretense of readjust- 
ing the apparatus in the signal station stayed 
aboard until he felt confident that they had 
passed through the customs and had dis- 
appeared in the great city. An officer of 
the ship summoned him to the captain’s 
room, where there was an agent of the 
wireless company in waiting. The captain 
introduced Alexis, and told of his services 
during the voyage. The agent, in remuner- 
ating him, asked him if he would return on 
the ship to Liverpool in the service of the 
company. Alexis thanked him and said 
that it was impossible, for he had other en- 
gagements. With the money he had earned 
126 


FOES AND A FRIEND 
he settled with the purser for his voyage, 
and repaid the boatswain, who at first 
refused the money, for he saw that by 
freeing the boy from his obligation the 
prospect of binding him to himself grew 
more remote. 

The great wooden structure in which 
the baggage was examined was nearly 
empty when Alexis stepped down the gang- 
way, and in a few moments he was free to 
enter the city. His first thought was to go 
immediately to the house of Sergius Ro- 
manoff; but a moment’s reflection told him 
that Bushy and Bare might have obtained 
the latter’s address and might waylay him. 
He called a hack, had his trunk conveyed 
to it, and gave the driver the address of the 
boarding-house recommended by the boat- 
swain. The driver rattled through a squalid 
street and stopped in a moment, glad to 
get a fare for such a short ride, for the 
house was but a step from the pier of the 
steamship. 


137 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 

Alexis had his trunk taken to the room 
assigned to him, and sat down on it to 
think. He had sufficient money for a few 
days ; but after those days what should he 
do ? It would be at least two weeks before 
he could expect his father. Perhaps the 
wireless telegraph company needed an op- 
erator in some land station. He resolved 
to find the office of this company in the 
morning, after he had found his father’s 
friend, Sergius Romanoff, and had given 
him his address. It would be safe perhaps 
to go to the latter’s house in broad day- 
light, when the streets were full of people ; 
the chance of Bushy and Bare being con- 
stantly on the watch was small ; moreover, 
what reason was there to suppose they 
were waiting for him? 

Accordingly, he went to bed, and after 
listening for a time to the strange noises 
about him, — graphophones, organ-grind- 
ers, the roaring and grating of trains on a 
neighboring elevated railway, — fell sound 
128 


FOES AND A FRIEND 
asleep, the room rising and falling like his 
room on the steamship. In the morning, 
after taking his breakfast with a number 
of sailors and longshoremen, he made his 
way to the more fashionable region of the 
city. The people were rushing hither and 
thither, running the moment they stepped 
from the street-cars, reminding him of an 
experiment of the professor in which a num- 
ber of images placed between two electri- 
fied plates were maintained in agitated mo- 
tions. He grew dizzy as he looked up at 
the skyscrapers, and was almost knocked 
over by the hurrying crowd. 

Inquiring the way repeatedly to the ad- 
dress given by his father, and emerging 
from streets the sidewalks of which were 
encumbered with cases of goods, he en- 
tered Broadway. There he seemed to be 
in Paris. The shops were glittering, and 
the throng of people prevented to a limited 
extent the phenomenal haste, which never- 
theless was desired by every one. He 
129 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


walked an interminable distance, through 
cross streets, where the houses were all 
alike, built of freestone, with doors high 
above the sidewalks reached by long flights 
of steps, and came out upon a broad avenue 
filled with fine equipages and automobiles, 
and paused a moment before the house to 
which he had been directed. No one at that 
moment was near, save a huckster who was 
crying his wares. The servant who an- 
swered the bell said that Mr. Romanoff 
had gone to Europe. 

Alexis was stunned by the announcement, 
and stood irresolute. The servant slowly 
closed the door. He arrested her move- 
ment and was about to give an address for 
his father, in order that the latter might 
find him; but he quickly thought that his 
father would not arrive for some time; and 
if Bushy and Bare were really on the watch 
for himself and should repeatedly obtain 
no information at the house, they might 
be thrown completely off the track. He 
130 


FOES AND A FRIEND 

accordingly let the door close and walked 
away. 

How different the world seemed from 
that of Kasan! There were no Polish Jews, 
with their straggling locks, fur caps, and 
long garments; no moujiks, with red or 
blue blouses and feet swathed in leather 
thongs; Cossacks in fur coats; merchants, 
with long beards; priests, with crosses 
dangling from their waists and wearing 
round hats; soldiers in gay uniforms. Here 
every man was clothed the same. All wore 
the same style of hat, and all were moving 
with great haste. The crowd was as uni- 
form in appearance as a swarm of ants, and 
if seen from the top of one of the skyscrap- 
ers would have closely resembled those 
insects. The only color was in the attire 
of the women, and he was amazed at the 
number of them on the street; for in Kasan 
one rarely saw them on the thoroughfares. 
The color of the buildings was as uniform 
as that of the garments of the men. 

131 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 

Alexis resolved to find the office of the 
Wireless Telegraph Company; for he re- 
membered the offer of their agent on the 
steamship. Perhaps employment might be 
obtained in some land station. Accord- 
ingly he made inquiries in the various 
stores he passed; but no one could direct 
him. All had heard of wireless telegraphy, 
but no one knew where messages could be 
sent or received. One jocular clerk haz- 
arded the suggestion that its office was in 
the clouds. Finally a policeman intimated 
that the city directory might give the de- 
sired information, and told Alexis where 
he could find one. 

Following the direction thus obtained, 
Alexis walked into a small office, where 
he found a man examining papers. He 
looked over his spectacles at the boy and 
shook his head; the company had all the 
assistance they needed. The telegraph com- 
panies, however, were in need of opera- 
tors, for a strike was on. He advised Alexis 
132 


FOES AND A FRIEND 
to apply at the Western Telegraph office, 
and gave its address. 

Alexis easily found the number, and after 
waiting for some time stated his desire to 
be employed and his qualifications. The 
man who listened to him looked at him 
fixedly, and asked him if he belonged to a 
union. On being informed that he was not 
connected in any way with the strikers, the 
man turned to consult with another official, 
who took Alexis into an interior office, 
where he was examined in regard to his 
skill. He soon satisfied the official of his 
competency, and he was assigned to duty 
in an office in the lower part of the city, 
not far from the lodging-house where he 
had spent the night. 

The telegraph office was a dingy affair, 
in great confusion. The official who in- 
stalled him and showed him the wiring and 
connections said that the previous operator 
had joined the strikers, and had left the 
place in bad shape. There would probably 

133 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
be a great press of business when it was 
known that the office was open. As he 
spoke, a number of telegraph boys appeared 
with messages, and Alexis was immediately 
occupied in keeping pace with his work, 
laboring steadily until lunch hour, and after- 
wards late into the night. A force of boys 
was sent forth with messages, and often 
he was left alone busily receiving and 
sending. 

One night when thus absorbed Alexis 
did not notice men peering into the win- 
dows and consulting together on the side- 
walk. Finally, one of these men stepped 
in and asked him questions in regard to 
his employment by the telegraph company. 
Alexis stared at the man and continued his 
work. On being asked if he was acquainted 
with the grievances of the strikers, Alexis 
shook his head. The man entered upon a 
long account of these grievances, and urged 
him to quit work, telling him that he would 
be taken care of. It was his duty to help 

134 


FOES AND A FRIEND 


his oppressed fellows. On finding that he 
made no impression, the man left the office, 
muttering. Shortly after his disappearance 
a stone was thrown through the window, 
narrowly missing Alexis’s head, and filling 
the room with broken glass. The messen- 
ger boys, who were half asleep, waiting 
to be sent with messages, ran out in ter- 
ror. Alexis stepped to the door and looked 
up and down the dark street, but could see 
no one. 

Bushy and Bare had been to the resi- 
dence of Sergius Romanoff, and had made 
many inquiries, especially in regard to a 
young man by the name of Alexis Orloff, 
whom they had been informed could be 
found at Mr. Romanoff’s ; or, if he was not 
there, perhaps the servant could give them 
his address. The servant knew no one of 
that name. The two men returned to their 
lodgings to meditate. 

“Stolpel must have been mistaken in sup- 
posing that the boy took the steamer,” said 
135 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
Bushy. We were unable to find him even 
with the assistance of the third officer. It 
is true he might have been a stowaway; 
which is extremely unlikely, considering 
his birth and standing. In any event he 
would have gone upon landing to this Ro- 
manoff, and learning that the latter had 
gone to Europe, would have left his ad- 
dress, in order that his father might find 
him. Let me get that letter from the count 
which we intercepted in Paris.’^ 

Bare took the letter from his pocketbook 
and handed it to his companion. 

Bushy pored over it for a while. ‘‘Yes,’’ 
said he, handing it to Bare; “the boy was 
directed to make himself known to Ro- 
manoff immediately on landing. There was 
no other alternative. If we had found him, 
we could return with him to-morrow on 
the White Star steamer.” 

“Suppose,” said Bare, “that in case we 
find the boy he should call in question the 
validity of our papers ? ” 

136 


FOES AND A FRIEND 
He is too inexperienced for that pro- 
cedure,” replied Bushy. ‘‘Once we get 
hold of him he is ours. And having him in 
our possession back in Russia, we are sure 
of the count, who will seek his son.” 

“ If you had not failed in Warsaw,” said 
Bare, “ we should not have lost the trail of 
Orloff, and could have been saved the voy- 
ages and the risk of ultimate failure.” 

“Did n’t I find the clue again.?” retorted 
Bushy, looking more like a hyena than 
ever, as he smoked, exhaling hot breath. 
“ All we have got to do is to sit down by 
the rat-hole and wait the coming of the rat. 
We shall be well paid for our trouble.” 

“We must make friends with Roman- 
off’s servants,” said Bare, reflectively. 

The two men fell to discussing plans, and 
coming to an agreement, spent the night at 
a theatre, and afterwards at a restaurant. 

Alexis had resolved to leave his address 
at the Romanoffs’ at the end of the week. 
This would give plenty of time before the 

137 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
probable coming of his father. The work 
at the office continued very pressing, and 
kept him to late hours. The attempt to 
intimidate him had apparently been given 
up, for no more stones had been thrown 
against the windows. One evening a young 
man entered the office, and taking a seat 
near the table which contained the tele- 
graph apparatus, put his foot upon it, cocked 
his hat on one side, and proceeded to criti- 
cise Alexis’s manner of sending messages. 

Alexis politely asked him to remove his 
foot; but the fellow, ignoring the request, 
poked the instrument with his cane. Alexis 
then ordered him out of the office; and 
being answered only by an insolent laugh, 
picked up a dress suit case which was 
lying under the table, and swinging it 
around his head, swept the fellow’s leg 
from the table. The force of the blow was 
such that the man tumbled from his chair 
upon the floor. Rising, he grappled with 
Alexis. The latter forced his opponent 

138 


FOES AND A FRIEND 
toward the door; a shower of missiles 
thrown from the outside broke the incan- 
descent light bulbs. 

Alexis succeeded in driving his assailant 
into the street. There three men joined 
effort with the latter, and throwing Alexis 
down upon the pavement, beat him severely. 
A man passing in a neighboring street 
heard the noise of the combat, and came 
running to the scene. He was a powerfully 
built person; he knocked down one of the 
ruffians, flung another with great strength 
against the brick wall of the office, and 
choked a third, crying loudly, Police, 
police I ” A patrolman appeared, and the 
assailants, gathering themselves together, 
disappeared down a neighboring alley. 
The stranger helped Alexis to his feet, and 
with the aid of the policeman carried him 
into an apothecary store near by. The night 
clerk had heard the noise of the fight, but 
had not dared to leave the store. As the 
light shone upon the stranger’s face Alexis 

139 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
recognized Brown, the American whom he 
had suspected of relieving him of his pock- 
etbook and letters during the journey from 
Paris to Boulogne. 

‘^Glad to see you again,” said Brown, 
while he helped the clerk bind up Alexis’s 
bruises. 

Alexis, in a dazed condition, held out his 
hand and tried to express his thanks for 
Brown’s assistance. 

Don’t try to talk,” said Brown. “Al- 
though you will remember that I had but 
one tongue, don’t try, however, to help 
me out. Just listen. Well, I asked at the 
wireless telegraph office for an operator to 
help me in an important trial of my new 
idea in wireless telephony: they had no 
one, but said that a boy had applied to 
them for a position; he had served on a 
steamer as an operator, the regular man 
having been lost overboard. They had ad- 
vised him to apply to the Western Union 
Company as a telegrapher. With this faint 
140 


FOES AND A FRIEND 
clue I started for the Western Union office; 
there I learned of the whereabouts of 
Alexis Sergius Orloff, and if it had not 
been for a wrong direction, I should have 
been here in good time to have got ahead 
of those ruffians.” 

“ Why were you attracted by my name ? ” 
asked Alexis, noticing a significant tone of 
voice. 

Brown put his hand in his breast-pocket 
and handed Alexis the pocketbook contain- 
ing the steamer tickets and the letter which 
he had lost. 

‘‘ How did you come into possession of 
this ? ” asked Alexis, forgetting his injuries, 
and gazing at Brown with amazement min- 
gled with suspicion. 

‘Ht tumbled out of your coat into my 
bundle of wraps,” replied Brown ; ‘‘ and 
when I discovered it, it was too late to send 
it to you, for the steamer had sailed. I tele- 
graphed to the steamer at Queenstown. 
Did n’t you get the telegram? ” 

141 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


Alexis remembered that he had given 
his name to the purser. Bushy and Bare had, 
perhaps, secured the telegram. 

I telegraphed also to the steamship au- 
thorities/’ continued Brown; “for I was 
afraid that you might have had all your 
money in that pocketbook, — and ordered 
them to give you a passage and charge it 
to me.” 

Alexis forgot his suspicions, and grasped 
Brown warmly by the hand. 

“ Come,” said Brown, “ don’t let ’s talk 
any more. Y ou are coming home with me ” ; 
and he asked the clerk for the use of his 
telephone, in order to summon a carriage. 

“ I must not leave the office,” said Alexis. 

“ I will arrange about the office,” replied 
Brown, looking solicitously at the boy’s 
pale face. Alexis sank back on the lounge 
and lost consciousness. 


CHAPTER IX 


REFUGE WITH A FRIEND 

When he recovered he found himself in a 
luxurious chamber. A white-capped nurse 
moved noiselessly about the room, arrang- 
ing the curtains. He stirred as if intending 
to sit up; but she gently forced him back 
upon the pillows, saying, “You must be 
very quiet for a few days. Mr. Brown is 
coming to see you later.” 

It was morning, and the wonderful sun- 
shine shone through a division of the cur- 
tains which had been overlooked by the 
nurse, making the fronds of a fern in a vase 
near the window glisten as if touched with 
snow. The chamber seemed to be furnished 
in recollection of foreign travel; there were 
Japanese screens and bronzes, Louis Qiiinzc 
chairs and Roman lamps. It was evidently 
the chamber of a man ; for there was a fes- 
H3 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
toon of pipes of various countries over the 
mantelpiece, and a movable telephone rested 
on a writing-desk, the pigeonholes of which 
bulged with papers. On the walls hung 
pictures of the French school. Alexis while 
in Paris had reveled in the Louvre and the 
Luxembourg, and he recognized a Rous- 
seau, a Corot, and a Daubigny. Through 
a half-opened door he caught a glimpse of 
a bathroom with a Roman sarcophagus, 
richly sculptured, converted into a bathtub. 
Through another door was seen a hall hung 
with tapestry. Alexis felt that he was dream- 
ing of sleeping in the Louvre, and with the 
strange inconsistency of dreams saw picture 
galleries, sculpture galleries, and gobelin 
tapestry rooms brought into one chamber. 

He heard a voice in the hall speaking 
with the nurse, and presently Brown entered 
the chamber, and with a joyous tone said, 
^^Glad to see you so fit, old fellow. I have 
recovered, too, from the blow I received in 
our fight.” He sat down beside the bed 
144 


REFUGE WITH A FRIEND 

and put his hand affectionately on Alexis’s 
hand. 

You have been very kind,” said Alexis. 
‘‘I am selfish,” replied Brown, ‘^for I 
want your services in some remarkable ex- 
periments. You remember our talk in the 
train from Paris to Boulogne on wireless 
telegraphy? I thought then that I wished 
that I could retain you; and you thought 
that I had retained your pocketbook, — 
hey ? ” 

Alexis asked his pardon for the suspi- 
cion, and told the story of the flight from 
Kasan and of the pursuit of the two spies. 

Brown’s eyes gleamed with interest. “ In 
searching your pocketbook for some clue, 
in order to restore it to its owner,” said he, 
read your father’s letter. I hope you will 
forgive me; but perhaps my act was par- 
donable under the circumstances. As I 
read it I called to mind your sudden start 
and the eager look in your eyes when I 
read the articles in the French paper in 
HS 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


regard to Count Orloff. Then, too, I read 
in a subsequent issue of the same paper the 
announcement that the Russian govern- 
ment had offered a large reward for his cap- 
ture. These two men who have followed 
you must hope to get some information 
from you ; they cannot hold you. How they 
expect to get the information I cannot see, 
unless they will try to take you back to 
Russia and hold you as a hostage, in the 
hope of getting your father. Perhaps they 
have some papers which may lead the 
American authorities to give you up.” 

“You will help me to elude them.^” said 
Alexis, with a sudden accession of fear as 
he recalled the faces of Bushy and Bare ; 
and he thought of the certainty that if he 
were held in Russia, his father would give 
up all thought of flight and deliver himself 
up to free his son. 

“You can count on me,” replied Brown 
emphatically. “ They have probably sailed 
for Europe, having been thrown com- 
146 


REFUGE WITH A FRIEND 

pletely off the scent. They could not have 
known your father’s directions to you to 
apply to the house of Romanoff. By the 
way, I immediately, on landing, called at 
that house and inquired for you. The ser- 
vants said that Mr. Romanoff had sailed 
for Europe, and I told them that I wished 
that you would call on me, and I gave 
them my address.” 

I also called at Mr. Romanoff’s,” said 
Alexis, ‘‘according to my father’s direc- 
tions, and left no address ; for I feared that 
in some way these men had learned these 
directions, and I resolved to wait for some 
days before I left my address there, know- 
ing that my father would not arrive for at 
least two weeks ; and if these men by any 
chance should apply at the house of the 
Romanoffs for my address, they would con- 
clude that the wireless message which they 
received on board the Russia conveyed 
false information.” 

“You were a brave and conscientious 

H7 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


fellow to deliver that message,” said Brown. 

I don’t believe I would have done it ; 
nevertheless, it was your duty.” 

Do you suppose,” asked Alexis, ‘‘ that 
the servants would give the men your ad- 
dress ? ” 

A shade passed over Brown’s face. Don’t 
worry about that,” said he ; I will see 
those servants. Moreover, I am going to 
take you to my station at Long Beach, 
where the sea air will completely restore 
you, and where I can explain our experi- 
ments. It would puzzle those spies to find 
Long Beach ; and, depend upon it, they 
have sailed for Europe, swearing at wire- 
less telegraphy and New York.” 

In a few days Alexis had entirely recov- 
ered from his bruises, and Brown took him 
into his laboratory. On the way to the lab- 
oratory, which was at the top of- the house, 
they passed through a room which con- 
tained many evidences of a fondness for 
athletics : there were trophy cups, oars with 
148 


REFUGE WITH A FRIEND 

painted blades, boxing gloves, photographs 
of polo encounters, stuffed heads of bears 
and mountain goats. 

Brown smiled sardonically as he saw the 
eyes of his companion gaze upon these 
articles. ‘‘ I call this my grub room,’’ said 
he. “ I smoke here and entertain some of 
my old, still strenuous friends; and while 
they tell stories of hunts and visits to unex- 
plored lands, I feel like the butterfly that 
has cast off the covering of the grub. I have 
discovered that there is no delight equal to 
the discovery of a scientific fact; no travel 
that can compare with that into the new 
world of electricity. What pleasure can 
equal that of an inventor, who sits down 
before his machine and sees it work ? ” — 
he made a gesture which expressed a good- 
by to the pursuits of boyhood and an ado- 
ration for heights yet to be ascended. 

They passed out of this room into a pic- 
ture gallery, and Alexis would fain have 
lingered, but Brown hurried him on, saying, 
149 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


“These pictures once enthralled me, but I 
am thinking of selling them and investing 
the proceeds in my experiments. Science, 
with its infinite possibilities, makes me think 
that the world would do well to study ex- 
actness instead of depicting vague sensa- 
tions. The field is so large and there are so 
few workers ! Poetry and art have had their 
day, and science is coming on. Indeed, I 
am inclined to agree with Benjamin Frank- 
lin, our great American explorer in our sub- 
ject of electricity: — 

“ What are the poets, take them as they fall, 

Good, bad, rich, poor, much read, not read at all? 

, Them and their works in the same class you ’ll find ; 

They are the mere waste paper of mankind.” 

“I am tempted to parody,” continued 
Brown, “Longfellow’s ‘Excelsior,’ and to 
substitute Science on the young man’s ban- 
ner as he climbs to the rare heights of in- 
vestigation. It would be poor poetry, but 
there would be an idea which is lacking in 
the original.” 

ISO 


REFUGE WITH A FRIEND 

Alexis recalled the power of the pencil 
over the humble minds of those sailors in 
Liverpool, and could not agree with his 
host. He remembered also ascending a 
snow mountain in the Caucasus with Profes- 
sor Valdov to establish a wireless station, in 
order to study the transmission of electric 
waves in a rarefied medium. They had left 
the smiling valley below them, and had 
passed the humble abodes of the peasants, 
who were tending their goats and cattle on 
the Alps. The professor sturdily led the 
way to the snow line, beyond the pastures 
dotted with flowers, unmindful of the gen- 
tians, the mountain roses, the field lilies 
which the boy longed to pick. He was like 
a monk ascending to some shrine far above 
the haunts of men, to an altar where he 
could worship undisturbed by human delu- 
sions and illusions. It was the call of the 
spirit of science, and Alexis’s host had heard 
it, too. 

When the two reached the laboratory 

151 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 

Brown gave an ecstatic sigh, and like a 
priest at the altar took out various pieces 
of apparatus, bent over them, and turning 
to his audience spread out his hands as a 
signal for worship. 

This,” said he, is my sender. It can 
make fifty thousand vibrations a second. 
You cannot hear its note, for the ear cannot 
detect more than forty thousand a second. 
I can, therefore, send a wireless message 
with this vibrator, which will not be heard 
unless one has a receiver which can be set 
in motion by these vibrations, and which 
will mechanically register them. It pro- 
mises to solve the problem of making wire- 
less messages secret. Here is a device for 
transmitting speech without wires.” 

Brown knelt down and adjusted the wires, 
absorbed in his devotion, while Alexis’s eyes 
wandered over the roofs of the great city, 
roofs so different from those of the city of 
Kasan. There was no color; the scene 
reminded him of a rocky valley with vast 

152 


REFUGE WITH A FRIEND 


sinuosities, from which arose great aiguilles 
of stone. 

Brown interrupted a homesick reverie 
by a description of an apparatus for meas- 
uring electric waves; but he cut it short, 
seeing a tired expression on Alexis’s face. 

^‘Come,” said he, ^Uet us descend; my 
friends say I put everybody to sleep, I am 
so full of ether and ethereal waves.” 

In the afternoon they started for Long 
Beach, Brown forgetting to warn the Ro- 
manoff servants not to give Alexis’s address 
to any one but Count Orloff. 


CHAPTER X 


ESCAPE ON THE BEACH 

Long Beach lies beyond a great extent of 
marshes intersected by a river, which makes 
many turns, as if loath to leave the quiet 
wooded recesses of the interior for the tur- 
bulent ocean. The traveler, unacquainted 
with the country, might think that the 
marshes extended like a prairie to the ho- 
rizon, if it were not for a line of blue in 
the far distance, with a fluctuating band of 
white between the blue and the green of 
the marsh. Long before one saw the beach 
one heard the roar of this line of surf. The 
road to the beach skirts the marsh, being 
loath, like the river, to leave the straggling 
woods where the ground is hard and to 
struggle through the sand dunes where ve- 
hicles sink almost to their hubs. 

At the edge of the last fringe of trees 
IS4 


ESCAPE ON THE BEACH 
stood the ancestral mansion of the Browns, 
on a slight eminence above the level of the 
great marsh. The lawn, which formerly ex- 
tended to the beach, was now encroached 
upon sadly by the sand. Brown’s forbears 
had fought successfully the attacks of the 
sea for generations ; but the last of the name, 
our Brown, had given up the fight; had 
ceased to keep the place in order; and re- 
sorted to it at rare intervals after he came 
into his majority, visiting it occasionally, 
with sporting friends, to shoot over the 
marshes or to eat oysters, — for the oysters 
of Long Beach were renowned. He had 
been coming to the old place more fre- 
quently of late without his sporting friends, 
and doing mysterious things. 

At a short distance from the old mansion 
was a straggling village of oystermen and 
fishermen, who held the family of Brown 
in great estimation; for they were granted 
generous privileges to plant and collect 
oysters in the river which ran through the 

155 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
Brown domain. The old oystermen had 
seen young Brown — they still called him 
young, although he was in the forties — 
grow up from a baby. While a boy he had 
hunted and fished with them, and they held 
him in great esteem for his courage and 
endurance; and he was the companion of 
their boys. 

When the elder Brown died they ex- 
pected that his son would make the money 
fly; for he had been kept under, as they 
expressed it, by the ^^old man.’’ To the 
astonishment of the wiseacres. Brown, the 
son, did nothing of the sort. When he vis- 
ited the old homestead he hobnobbed with 
the fishermen, shot over the marshes as of 
yore, but did not open the mansion to great 
parties or race up and down the beach in 
an automobile. By means of this restrained 
living he kept the good opinion of the 
village. Old Timmy, however, his care- 
taker, who lived in an ell of the home- 
stead, thought that young Brown was 

156 


ESCAPE ON THE BEACH 

letting slip the opportunities of youth and 
wealth. 

He ’s going daft on machines,” said he 
to Josephus Gunn, an old chum and comrade 
in the Sixteenth Infantry, who came every 
evening to smoke a pipe and talk over war 
times. Come in here and see the traps 
he ’s collecting.” Thus saying, he led the 
way to a shed, where Brown did his experi- 
menting in wireless telegraphy. Timmy 
cautioned his friend to look out for wires. 

I ’ll jest start up a little,” said he; and 
don’t you move unless you wish to be 
transplanted.” 

With a whiz the machinery started, and 
Josephus fell back as he heard loud crack- 
ling sparks. 

Have you got a thunderstorm in here ?” 
he asked, sidling to the door. 

^‘Jest abaout,” replied Timmy, swelling 
with importance, as if playing the part of 
Jupiter. “ It sounds like the rebel guns at 
Fredericksburg, don’t it?” 

157 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


As he said this he accidentally touched 
a wire; his arms crooked, and he made 
such a horrid grimace that Josephus, forget- 
ting his rheumatism, fled from the shop. 

^‘Come back!” cried Timmy; there’s 
nothing to harm ye.” 

‘‘What in thunder is he doing with it 
all ? ” asked Josephus, limping into the shop 
somewhat ashamed of his action under fire. 
“You looked like the old un.” 

“ He ’s sending messages up into the 
air,” said Timmy. “When I send ’em, he 
catches ’em in New York.” 

“You send ’em.? ” said Josephus incredu- 
lously. 

“ Wall, yes. I ’ve taken the place of the 
man he called his operator, who left yes- 
terday. He struck.” 

“ What, that pigeon I ’ve seen hanging 
around here ? Why did n’t you speak of this 
thunder shop before ? ” 

“ It ’s been kept a secret,” answered 
Timmy. 

158 


ESCAPE ON THE BEACH 
young Brown getting off his nut?” 
asked Josephus. ‘‘ Seems to me I Ve hearn 
tell of a disarranged uncle.” 

“ He ’s got a great invention,” said 
Timmy. ^Ht’s going to make a noise in 
the world.” 

“I believe ye,” replied Josephus, as they 
left the shop and sat about the stove in the 
kitchen, for a cold fog was coming in from the 
sea. Young Brown ought to get married.” 

‘‘ It don’t follow that he would be happy,” 
said Timmy dubiously, poking the fire; ^^it’s 
all a lottery.” 

‘‘Wall,” rejoined Josephus enigmati- 
cally, “ there ’s more thet ain’t thet is than 
is n’t thet ain’t.” 

At that moment a shout was heard and 
a carriage drew up to the house. Brown 
jumped out, accompanied by a young man. 
Josephus toddled out of the back door and 
disappeared in the direction of the village, 
while Timmy opened the front door for his 
master. 


159 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


‘‘Well, Timmy, how are you getting 
on ? ” asked Brown, shaking off the sand 
and dust. 

“Wall, Pm so as to be abaout. We 
Ve had some bad weather; the moon 
has n’t been quartering to suit me. Then 
there ’s been some rascals hanging round 
here.” 

“ They have n’t seen my apparatus ? ” 
asked Brown apprehensively. 

“ No, they gave your wires a wide berth, 
but they had a keen scent for your wines. 
They broke into the cellar and rummaged 
extensive.” 

“ Where were you ? ” asked Brown. 

“Wall, you see, your sparks hev kinder 
added to my deefness, and I did n’t hear 
the rascals. The town is up in arms abaout 
the affair, — kinder take it personal. But 
no men or boys of this beach did it.” 

“ Of course not,” echoed Brown. “ I 
know every man, woman, and child on 
Long Beach. It’s some roystering devils 
i6o 


ESCAPE ON THE BEACH 
from the interior; and if they are caught 
here, I pity them.” 

The town is judge, jury, and hangman,” 
said Timmy, shaking his head in an approv- 
ing manner, and leading the way into the 
house. 

Alexis entered a large hall, which had 
a pervading odor of the sea. On its walls 
was a pictorial paper representing the sur- 
render of Cornwallis at Yorktown. A flight 
of stairs ascended from the back of the hall 
to a landing, and then made a turn to an 
upper story. Beneath the stairs was a tall 
clock, the hands of which had stopped 
on the day that Brown senior had died. 
At its foot was a collection of shooting 
boots, nets, oilskin coats, and tarpaulin 
hats. 

Brown led the way through a reception 
room to a dining-room. The reception 
room was furnished in a mixture of old 
Colonial and French style. There were 
chairs with high backs, which the elder 

i6i 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


Brown always maintained had come over 
with Count Rochambeau, mahogany chairs 
with haircloth seats, a cabinet filled with 
shells collected by the captains of the clip- 
per ships owned by Brown senior, who had 
made his fortune in the East India trade. 
The only sign of a past feminine occupancy 
was a bit of embroidery on the sofa, now 
crumpled by some drowsy sportsman, and 
a potted plant in a window-seat, long since 
denuded of leaves. 

Brown, on entering the dining-room, 
sat down at the dining-table, while Timmy 
bustled into the kitchen to prepare tea. 
Heavy footsteps were heard clattering on 
the kitchen floor; and Brown, motioning to 
Alexis to follow, went into the kitchen. 
Two tall fishermen stood in the middle of 
the floor, carrying a huge basket of fish 
and oysters between them. 

^^Glad to see you. Shanks; glad to see 
you. Longshore,” said Brown, taking both 
their left hands in his, while with an effort 
162 


ESCAPE ON THE BEACH 
of politeness they tried to relieve their 
right hands from their burden. 

‘‘We Ve brought you some fish and oys- 
ters,” said Shanks. “ They are jest out of 
the water.” 

“We’ll have supper right here,” said 
Brown; “and you must both sit down with 
us. We ’ll talk over old times. You can 
show Timmy the best way to cook the fish 
and the oysters.” 

“ Guess I hain’t forgot,” growled Timmy, 
“ even if I hev turned to getting up thunder 
and lightning.” 

The men put down their basket near the 
stove, took out the fish, and placed them in 
a row on the kitchen table. There was a 
wonderful variety: black bass still quiver- 
ing, silver- scaled squeteague, butterfish, 
and flounders. When the fish were taken 
from the basket a layer of odorous seaweed 
was removed, disclosing clams and oysters 
redolent of briny beds in the river which 
ran through the salt marshes. 

163 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


‘‘We’ll have the oysters first,” said 
Brown. 

“ Put ’em on the stove ? ” asked Shanks. 

“Yes, that’s the way you cooked them 
for me when I was a boy,” replied Brown. 

In a moment the low-ceilinged room was 
full of the wild rich odor of steaming oys- 
ters, and the men gathered about the table, 
while Timmy brought out bread and con- 
diments. 

“Nothing like this in the city,” said 
Brown, drinking the liquor of the oysters 
from the shells. “ It ’s good to see you 
both,” he continued. “ You remember that 
stormy night I put out with you and Emer- 
son and Pelvey and Bob, to try to save the 
crew of the Sally Ann, which had struck 
the shoals ? That was a dreadful night.” 

“It was,” replied Longshore; “and you 
and Bob pulled a good oar.” 

“ By the way,” interrupted Brown, turn- 
ing to Shanks, “ where ’s Bob now ? ” 

“ He is in the village,” answered Shanks; 

164 


ESCAPE ON THE BEACH 
and a shadow came over his countenance. 
Bob was his son, and a ne’er-do-well. 

‘‘ Bob and I pulled all there was in us,” 
said Brown. ‘‘ Do you remember that as we 
tossed up and down beside the rolling ves- 
sel, having taken off at the risk of our lives 
all but one man, when we told him to 
jump he asked us to wait a minute and 
plunged into the forecastle, — we thought 
he had gone for a child or a woman that 
had been overlooked — ” 

^^Yes,” interrupted Longshore, ‘‘he came 
back with a dollar watch. I reckon my 
crown of glory wa’n’t anyways dimmed by 
my remarks.” 

“ I believe that the recording angels 
blotted them out,” laughed Brown; and 
turning to Shanks, he said, “Tell Bob to 
come round to-night and see me.” 

Both fishermen suddenly became silent. 

“ I hear,” continued Brown, “ that some 
rascals have broken into the house, and have 
amused themselves drinking my wine.” 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
“ The village is feeling mighty bad about 
it,” said Longshore, ^^for it knows there ain’t 
a man or boy on this beach who would 
have done the thing.” 

“ Of course,” answered Brown; “ it must 
have been the work of some rascals from 
the interior. Have some more bread. Those 
pickles go well with the oysters.” 

If the village should catch the rascals,” 
said Longshore, striking the table with his 
clenched fist, “ it would go hard with ’em. 
Old Emerson’s boat would have to go with- 
out tar, and I would contribute the feathers 
from my wife’s pillow-cases. It ’s the auto- 
mobbles that bring these shucks to the 
beach. They are looking for a racing place, 
and the rag- tag which always hang round 
races are coming this way.” 

“ There ’s not going to be automobbles 
on this beach,” joined in Shanks. played 
on this beach when a boy, and my children 
are going to play on it.” 

Timmy at this juncture brought on the 
1 66 


ESCAPE ON THE BEACH 
broiled fish, and the men told stories of 
their youth and of the dangers that middle 
age had brought, while Alexis heard the 
surf booming outside. After the repast the 
fishermen lighted their pipes and took their 
leave, their heavy boots sounding reluc- 
tantly through the corridor and the sound 
ceasing suddenly as they struck the sand. 

“ There ’s some in the village,” said 
Timmy, in a low, cautious tone, “that sus- 
pects Bob Shanks had a share in this here 
break.” 

“Nonsense!” exclaimed Brown; but he 
called to mind the morose look on Bob’s 
father’s face when the robbery was men- 
tioned. He took Alexis into the shop, and 
explained the share he desired him to take 
in the important experiments about to be 
made. In the morning he would return to 
New York, to arrange his apparatus at that 
end. They were in consultation until a late 
hour, and when Brown bade Alexis good- 
night Timmy lighted him to his room and 
167 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


lingered while he took articles out of his 
dress-suit case for the night. 

‘^The world ain’t the peaceful place it 
used to be,” said Timmy, snuffing the can- 
dle. “ This electricity is making everybody 
seem like a jumping-jack. There is no rest; 
even the air is full of messages; and the 
earth must be stocking up, for they say 
that these wireless messages fall like shoot- 
ing stars into the ground. Some inventor 
will draw ’em out some day, and the earth 
will keep up a drone like a grapherphone. 
Wall, I’m growing deef; that’s one com- 
fort. If you get up in the night, be sure and 
carry a lighted candle ; for I ’ve loaded my 
pistol, and by gum, I intend to fire at any 
skulker. I was in the Sixteenth Regiment.” 

Alexis promised, and when the old care- 
taker disappeared, looked about the room 
he was to occupy. A high-posted bed stood 
in an alcove, with heavy curtains suspended 
from a ring in the ceiling. The floor was 
covered with straw matting. On the man- 
168 


ESCAPE ON THE BEACH 
telpiece above the fireplace hung a mirror 
in a frame, ornamented at the top with a 
figure of an eagle; above the mirror was 
a stuffed owl. A few chairs, with very 
straight backs, constituted the only remain- 
ing furniture in the chamber. The room 
was in strange contrast to the princely 
apartments the boy occupied in the castle of 
his ancestors; yet there was something in 
his present surroundings which gave him a 
joyous sense of freedom. He had escaped 
to a free country, and his father was on his 
way to join him. He opened the window 
to free the chamber from the musty smell 
engendered by the neighborhood of the 
sea, and breathed the fresh air laden with 
salt spray, and went to bed with the odors 
of the sea pervading the pillows and the 
curtains, — those wild odors which were 
destined in after years to recall the old 
mansion, — with the sound of the surf beat- 
ing on the beach. He had passed out of 
dangers, and the sound of the turbulent sea 
169 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


was no longer ominous of coming storms. 
He went to sleep hearing the booming of 
the surf, like the rolling of thunder; in 
answer to the prodding winds, the words 
of a giant. 


CHAPTER XI 


THE SECRET DISCLOSED 

A MAN with a full gray beard rang the bell 
of the Romanoff mansion, and on the serv- 
ant’s answering, said that Count Orloff 
had sent him to deliver a package to Mr. 
Romanoff. He told the girl to be very care- 
ful of the package, for it was of great value. 
The count unfortunately had been taken to 
a hospital, having sustained severe injuries 
during a storm at sea. The count was anx- 
ious to ascertain whether his son, Mr. 
Alexis, was staying at Mr. Romanoff’s; if 
he were not, he would like his address. 
The servant took the package and shook 
her head, a gesture which fortunately suited 
both questions. 

‘‘ The count,” continued the man, wished 
to recompense the servants for their kind- 
ness to his son, and sent these little presents 
171 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


to them; but since the son has not been 
here, I suppose I must return them.” As 
he said this he displayed a gold bracelet 
and a necklace. 

How beautiful!” exclaimed the serv- 
ant, calling the attention of another, who 
wondered at the lingering of her companion 
at the door. The two fingered the orna- 
ments and whispered together. 

suppose,” said the man, ^Hhat you 
would have been most kind to the son if he 
had been here.” 

Oh, most kind ! ” exclaimed both serv- 
ants. 

^H’m sure,” continued the man, ^^that 
the count would wish me to give these 
articles to you. Poor man, he is feeling 
very miserable — painful operation! — and 
he greatly desires to see his son. I will 
leave these presents with you if you will 
give me the son’s address.” 

The servant who had answered the 
doorbell said that Mr. Ray Brown, No. — , 
172 


THE SECRET DISCLOSED 
5th Avenue, might give him some informa- 
tion. The man delivered the presents, and 
hurried away. 

“ I Ve won ! ” said he, entering Bushy’s 
room and tearing off his gray beard. 

That night the Browns’ telephone bell 
sounded, and the butler answering heard 
the inquiry, “ Is Mr. Alexis Orloff at Mr. 
Brown’s ? ” 

Yes,” replied the butler. “ He has gone 
to Long Beach with Mr. Brown. Who is 
this?” 

The line was suddenly cut off. 

Timmy and Josephus had spent their 
evenings together for thirty years; begin- 
ning them with mutual offerings of tobacco, 
and ending them in high dudgeon with 
each other on account of squabbles over 
differences in their remembrances of the 
battles in which they had been engaged 
during the Civil War. They had not been 
particularly valiant, and it seemed as if 
their consciences made them irritable as 

173 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
they endeavored to explain their retreat 
from action on various occasions. The 
evening after the return of Brown to the 
city they fell to discussing Alexis, while 
the crackling noise of the sparks the latter 
was employing to send wireless messages 
sounded from the shop. 

‘‘ He ’s a well set-up lad,” said Josephus. 
‘‘ What is he, — Frenchman, German, or 
dago ? ” 

‘‘ Dunno,” replied Timmy. ‘‘ He speaks 
with a lingo. ’T ain’t the pure English we 
hev bin brought up on.” 

Josephus’s hand began to make passes 
up and down his back. Then he made a 
swoop like a mower about to use his 
scythe. Hich! ” said he, ‘‘ how this rheu- 
matism in my leg that got the bullet at 
Fredericksburg ketches me.” 

Timmy went to a cupboard and produced 
a flask of whiskey, which he kept for such 
‘^ketches.” Josephus partook, and straight- 
ened himself. 


174 


THE SECRET DISCLOSED 

Timmy, although hospitable, could not 
refrain from reminding Josephus that the 
last time he had a “ ketch ” he attributed it 
to a wound he received at Todd’s Tavern. 

It ’s a combine of the two,” replied 
Josephus. That was a hot affair at Todd’s 
Tavern. If I had n’t been knocked down by 
you running agin me, I ’d ’a’ got leftenant’s 
straps. As it was, I was carried to the rear.” 

If I,” rejoined Timmy, had n’t had 
the wind knocked out of me and an ankle 
sprained by stumbling over you crouching 
down, I’d ’a’ joined the movement on 
Lee’s flank.” 

“You mean the movement to the rear,” 
interposed Josephus, pressing down the to- 
bacco in his pipe. 

“ I never could see why you were on all 
fours,” remarked Timmy. 

“ It was orders,” said Josephus. 

“All the officers had been killed in our 
company,” replied T immy. “ Y ou get mud- 
dled at times, Josephus.” 

175 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


‘‘Wall, I ain’t so muddled as not to see 
it ’s time for honest folks to be abed.” Thus 
saying he toddled out. 

“ You hed better stay up a little longer,” 
called out Timmy in a hospitable tone 
tinged with sarcasm. 

Alexis spent the time during his leisure 
hours in exploring his surroundings. In 
one direction the beach was limited by the 
river, or creek, as it was called by the fish- 
ermen. After winding for several miles 
through salt marshes, it made its entrance 
into the ocean, which at low tide received 
the waters of the river placidly; but when 
the tide turned, the temper of the sea 
seemed to alter, and a surging line of angry 
breakers tried to force it back. Crabs scur- 
ried away from the contest along the bed 
of the river, and old fishermen told of 
sharks which had entered the creek, as if 
the belligerent sea had sent them in as sub- 
marine destroyers. 

At low tide the creek at its entrance into 
176 


THE SECRET DISCLOSED 

the sea was a place of enchantment to the 
children of the fishing village. They waded 
into its shallows, finding strange fish caught 
in pools, or shells of various patterns borne 
in by the ocean and left as the waves re- 
ceded. They knocked off the small oysters 
which clustered on the rocks with stones 
rolled smooth by the sea, and ate them 
with greater relish than the city child has 
for its dainties. Now and then they took 
involuntary baths, slipping on the seaweed. 
The fisher boys were living in a dream, 
which was an intimation of their future 
careers, — when they should grow to man- 
hood. The sea was booming on the bar 
waiting for them. The embayed fish led 
them to dwell upon greater catches in 
yonder vast mysterious ocean; the oys- 
ters would demand stronger arms and 
muscles when they, too, were not clinging 
and must be sought in deeper waters ; the 
shark that swam in the shallow water, 
making great whirls as it strove to escape, 
177 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
suggested a world of peril into which wild 
and adventurous spirits longed to plunge. 
The creek was a realm of enchantment, and 
the sea-shells which the children carried 
to their homes filled their chambers with 
the wild odors of the sea, ever suggesting 
its mysteries. 

Alexis stood on the edge of the creek, 
and was a boy with the wading boys for a 
moment; then turned and walked along the 
beach toward the village. He passed a num- 
ber of fishermen who were pulling in a net, 
and he stopped to see the catch. Longshore 
and Shanks were there in their great fish- 
ing boots, while Timmy, the caretaker, was 
among the lookers-on. A great Newfound- 
land dog was joyously running around the 
men who were pulling in the net, and bark- 
ing as if congratulating them on their luck. 
Alexis talked to the animal, patting him in 
remembrance of the great staghound left 
so far away in the castle. 

That ’s a wonderful dog,” said Timmy. 
178 


THE SECRET DISCLOSED 

saved Longshore’s boy from drown- 
ing.” 

“ I would n’t take a hundred dollars for 
that dog,” remarked Longshore, as he lifted 
a quivering fish from the net and nodded to 
Alexis. 

The latter passed on along the beach, 
which extended as far as the eye could see, 
broad and level as a floor. He came finally 
to a life-saving station. The great dog, which 
had followed him, was greeted with words 
of affection by the men, who were stretched 
out on the sand, reminding one of rough- 
coated bulbs or earthy cacti, which only 
needed the warmth of heroism to blossom 
into beautiful flowers and then to die. 

Beside the men waiting for opportunity 
was another group engaged in repairing a 
boat. A cauldron of tar was smoking over 
a driftwood fire. 

The men looked after Alexis, and one 
said, That ’s the fellow who has taken the 
place of Brown’s man that struck.” 

179 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
The town is well rid of that chap,” said 
another. ‘‘ I hn thinking he had something to 
do with the breaking into Brown’s house.” 

At that moment a large automobile was 
seen speeding along the beach. It had 
turned in from the sandy road near the 
Brown mansion, and was heading in the 
direction Alexis was walking. As it passed 
one of its occupants turned and looked at 
him. The man wore large goggles, and 
looked like an animal in spectacles. Great 
bushy eyebrows overhung the goggles, and 
two eye teeth appeared beneath a strag- 
gling mustache. Alexis was reminded of 
the face of Bushy, and was filled with 
thankfulness as he thought of his distance 
from Russia and of the peril that he and 
his father had escaped. For days and nights 
he had been haunted by the faces of the 
two spies, and it was not strange that he 
should shudder at a fancied resemblance 
of this man with the goggles to Bushy. 

The automobile sped on, and Alexis 
i8o 


THE SECRET DISCLOSED 
turned and retraced his steps to the village, 
for the time was approaching when he must 
prepare for the interchange of wireless 
messages with Brown. He had not pro- 
ceeded far when he heard the noise of the 
automobile, which had also turned, and he 
resolved to have a good look at the man 
with the goggles; but as the machine sped 
by the two men behind the chauffeur had 
drawn a robe up to their eyes, as if to pro- 
tect their faces from the wind, and it dashed 
through the group of fishermen gathering 
in the net and disappeared in the sandy 
road which led from the beach. 

As Alexis approached the fishermen he 
saw them gather together, while women 
ran out from the houses and joined them. 
There was something singular in the move- 
ments of the crowd; and soon he saw a 
black object stretched on the sand. It was 
the great dog, lying on its back, moving its 
hind-legs convulsively, lifting its head, and 
whining piteously. 


i8i 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 

^‘They hev run over him,” said a fisher- 
man, looking at Alexis with a fierce glare 
in his eyes. 

A woman carrying a child in her arms 
and leading a little boy stood looking 
mutely at the suffering animal. 

He saved that boy’s life,” said Long- 
shore, addressing the group, ^^and those 
rascals hev killed him.” 

The dog tried to rise, as if in response to 
the words of praise, wagged its tail, fell 
back, and was quiet forever. The fishermen 
looked at one another with hard, set faces, 
and then two took the dog up by its legs, 
placed it in the sedge on the border of the 
beach, and silently resumed their work. 

They don’t say anything,” said Timmy, 
who had joined Alexis on his way to the 
Brown mansion, “ but they keep up a devil 
of a thinking. The next automobble that 
comes on this beach will have more than 
its tires bust, and I pity the folks in it. 
These fishermen are a savage lot when 
182 


THE SECRET DISCLOSED 


they are aroused. I seen ’em mob some 
fellows from the interior who tried to rake 
their oyster-beds, and the chaps escaped 
only with their lives. The town has a 
reputation to menten.” 

‘^Wouldn’t it be well,” replied Alexis, 
“ to put up a sign on the road leading to the 
beach, ‘No automobiles allowed’.^ other- 
wise innocent persons might suffer.” 

“It might prevent a little onpleasant- 
ness,” said Timmy reflectively. 


CHAPTER XII 


MOBBING BUSHY AND BARE 

That evening Alexis sat in the workshop, 
busily occupied with the work set by 
Brown. The wireless telephone was in op- 
eration, and seemed a marvelous success. 
He could hear the voice of Brown, and he 
fancied he also heard the roar of the great 
city. Bending low over the apparatus he 
listened intently, shutting out the noise of 
the surf. Timmy sat nodding by the fire, 
having finished his part in the experiments, 
and wondering how a young man with 
Brown’s great opportunities could be so 
much interested in talking to the air, when 
he might get married and let his wife do it. 

While the old man mused he heard a 
slight noise outside the shop, as if an animal 
was moving with stealthy tread, stopping 
for a moment after each accidental sound. 

184 


MOBBING BUSHY AND BARE 
He kept up his nodding, although thor- 
oughly aroused, and cast furtive glances at 
the window; for the light in the laboratory 
had seemed to be reflected back from its 
excursion into the darkness by something 
moving outside. His head nodded lower 
and lower upon his breast, rolled to this 
side and that, coming up like a ship in a 
seaway; his starboard eye — we are re- 
peating his story of the night to his fisher- 
men friends — swept over the window, and 
he saw a hyena-like face peering into the 
shop. He arose, yawned, and interrupting 
the listening of Alexis with the remark, 
which seemed unnecessarily loud, that he 
must get some driftwood, for the fire was 
uncommon low,” crept out into the passage- 
way. As he did so a dark figure slid around 
the house. At that moment Josephus Gunn 
appeared at the back door; Timmy put 
up his hands with a warning gesture. 

‘‘ Hush! ” he whispered, “ there ’s going 
to be another break. There ’s robbers ! ” 

185 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
Josephus put up a hand also, saying, 
Hush! I seen an automobble down in 
the hollow, jest where the road turns into 
the beach.” 

Run to the village and get help! ” said 
Timmy, while I look to the house.” 

Josephus hobbled into the darkness, while 
Timmy closed and bolted the door and has- 
tened back to alarm Alexis. To his aston- 
ishment the latter was not there. 

Timmy stood irresolute for a moment, 
listening intently. He heard a strange noise 
like the crackling of wood; a cold sweat 
came out on his brow, and creeping through 
the dark hall, he stood for an instant at the 
foot of the stairs. There was a sound of 
the opening of a window; he stumbled up- 
stairs and fled to Alexis’s room. A light 
shone through the cracks of the door. The 
old man burst into the chamber, and rushed 
to Alexis, unable to articulate. He gen- 
erally announced himself by a catastrophe. 
“Has the machinery stopped.^” asked 
1 86 


MOBBING BUSHY AND BARE 
Alexis, starting up from a table where he 
had been consulting notes. 

“ If you mean my legs, they hev,” an- 
swered Timmy, regaining the power of 
speech and sinking into a chair. Did you 
see anything?” 

I was engaged in hearing, not in see- 
ing,” replied Alexis, annoyed at the man’s 
leaving the shop. 

‘‘ There ’s robbers round,” whispered 
Timmy. They are getting into a window. 
I seen one, with great bushy eyebrows, 
looking into the shop window.” 

‘‘ Bushy eyebrows ! ” ejaculated Alexis, 
with a start. 

‘‘ Hark! ” said Timmy. 

Both listened. There was the noise of 
many voices outside, and the sound of 
crackling sticks. 

‘‘The town is up,” cried Timmy, in a 
loud, excited tone. “I hear Shanks’s voice, 
and Longshore’s, too. They got ’em,” and 
forgetting the condition of his legs, he 
187 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
tumbled down the stairs. Alexis followed, 
whispering to himself, Bushy eyebrows ! ” 
He overtook Timmy in the hall, and the 
two looked out of the windows of the great 
dining-room. They could see dimly in the 
darkness a crowd of villagers holding two 
men; and opening the main door they 
joined the group. 

‘^WeVe got ’em this time,” said Jose- 
phus, hobbling to the side of Timmy. One 
of the rascals was half through a window. 
I didn’t have to go far; for the men had 
found the automobble as they came down 
the road from the mainland. It will go hard 
with ’em this time.” 

Alexis saw two men in the grasp of the 
fishermen, one tall and the other short; 
and as he stepped nearer, impelled by a 
powerful feeling of curiosity, the fishermen 
hurried their prey in the direction of the 
village. 

“ What are they going to do with them } ” 
he asked Josephus and Timmy. 

i88 


MOBBING BUSHY AND BARE 


‘‘ It will be sport to see,” replied Jose- 
phus, his old blood tingling with recollec- 
tions of the fights of his youth. ^^The 
town’s blood is up. A cloud hez rested on 
Bob Shanks by reason of the break into 
this house; and now it is lifted, and the 
true rascals are going to feel the weight of 
the fisherman’s hand. It ’s going to be 
judge, jury, and coroner. Timmy, come 
on! No need to lock up to-night.” 

Alexis felt that he must see these men, 
in order to dispel a horrible nightmare. 
Were they Bushy and Bare? and had they 
intended to kidnap him and convey him 
back to Russia in order to ensnare his 
father ? 

The straggling crowd of fishermen filed 
out of the old garden with their prisoners, 
and were joined by two stalwart fellows, 
who spoke to the ringleaders of the crowd. 

^‘The shouffer has cut and run,” said 
one of the fellows. 

Wall, you both go back and stand by 
189 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
the automobble,”said Longshore, until we 
finish our job/’ 

On reaching the beach the procession 
was joined by the women of the village, 
and it proceeded to the tar cauldron near 
the signal station. It was still smoking, for 
the work of caulking the boat had not been 
finished. The men of the station stood 
aloof, as if fearing to meddle in the affair. 
The red glare of the fire under the cauldron 
lighted up the stern faces of the fishermen 
gathered about it, while several added fuel. 

Alexis stood on the outskirts of the 
crowd, on a sand dune, and recognized 
Bushy and Bare. They had the air of animals 
in a menagerie cage shrinking from a fire- 
brand. Bushy was offering his watch and 
Bare was displaying a roll of bills, both ges- 
ticulating in the manner peculiar to Con- 
tinental Europeans, which was in strange 
contrast to the immovable and restrained 
manner of those surrounding them. The 
tide was full, the waves hissed on the sands. 

190 


MOBBING BUSHY AND BARE 


Presently Shanks ladled out the tar and 
poured it over the two men, and Long- 
shore took the pillows handed to him by 
the women, cut them open with his fish 
knife, and shook the feathers over the pris- 
oners. In a moment they looked like polar 
bears standing on their hind-legs and pre- 
paring to dance for the amusement of the 
spectators. 

“Now they are fit for a menargerie,” 
said a fisherman, with a jeer. 

“No,” said another, “they are going to 
perform as circus riders, and they ain’t 
going to run down dogs this time.” 

As he said this, two men appeared carry- 
ing long rails; the two victims were hoisted 
on these, held on by young oystermen, and 
hustled along the beach attended by a 
laughing procession. 

“We can’t speed up,” said one; “we 
hain’t got rubber tires.” 

Alexis followed the crowd with a mixed 
feeling of pity and savage hope, — hope 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


that the experience would be sufficiently 
bitter to make the spies give up their mys- 
terious pursuit of him. Presently the rab- 
ble turned into the sandy road leading from 
the beach, and set up a howl as they caught 
sight of the automobile. 

‘‘This machine is going to have a rec- 
ord,” said a tall fisherman, striking the tires 
with an axe. 

“Turn it turtle,” cried another. 

A number of stalwart men turned the 
machine over into the ditch. 

“ That ’s a good signboard, — ‘No auto- 
mobble on this road,’ ” said Timmy, who 
like most timid men thoroughly enjoyed a 
fray in which he was not engaged. 

“ How far air ye going to toot the ras- 
cals?” cried a laggard. 

“Up to Jenkins’s store,” was shouted 
back. 

Jenkins kept a store at the cross-roads 
far up at the end of the salt marsh. 

“ They can get gasoline there ; we ’ve 
192 


MOBBING BUSHY AND BARE 
supplied them with tar/’ cried a squeaking 
voice. 

A hoarse laugh responded, and the light 
of the flaring torches flickered on the sand 
dunes, while a small boy beat a tattoo on a 
tin pan. 

Alexis watched the lights of the proces- 
sion until they became indistinguishable 
from the fireflies, and returned to the labo- 
ratory, where he found Timmy and Josephus 
sitting before the fire comparing notes of 
the stirring event of the night. He resolved 
to inform Brown of the appearance of the 
two men who had tracked him and his 
father from Russia, for he was filled with 
apprehension; and he accordingly put the 
sending apparatus in action, tapping out or 
rather sparking the call arranged between 
him and Brown, and then listened intently. 

The bosom of the air was full of con- 
flicting messages. A steamer asked for a 
tug and a horse. He heard conversations 
between ironclads in regard to their coal- 
193 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


ing: one officer congratulated another on 
the birth of a baby. 

How much does it weigh ? ” was asked. 

Seven hundred tons, delivered at seven 
p. M.,’’ was answered. 

Report immediately to Washington and 
inform the President,’’ was tapped out. 

Then there was a jargon. ‘‘ Give us the 
air for a moment, won’t you?” said an 
evidently impatient listener. 

“ Y ou want the earth,” was the response. 


CHAPTER Xin 


THE TELEGRAM AND THE WIRELESS 
MESSAGE 

Alexis was forced to give up the attempt 
to inform Brown, and concluded to wait 
until the evening of the following day. 
Putting aside the receiver, he heard the 
footsteps of the fishermen returning from 
the interior. Their voices were silent; and 
there was an air of dogged satisfaction ex- 
pressed in the thud of their dragging steps, 
which merged into a swishing sound as 
they struck the sand, like the sound of a 
Russian knout descending on a victim. 

Alexis went to bed, but could not sleep; 
the faces of Bushy and Bare glared at him 
out of the darkness. Rising and lighting 
a candle, he wrote a long letter to Brown, 
describing the mobbing of the spies, and 
giving his suspicions of their endeavor to 

195 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


kidnap him. His mind was somewhat re- 
lieved after the letter was finished, and he 
went to sleep to dream of fierce encoun- 
ters with Bushy and Bare, which caused 
him to cry out so loudly in his slumber 
that Timmy, who occupied a room not far 
distant, left his bed and took refuge in a 
closet, until silence and cold induced him 
to venture out, doubly bolt the door, and 
cover his head with the bedclothes. 

The letter was sent by a special mes- 
senger early in the morning, and in the 
evening, apparently in answer to this let- 
ter, Alexis received a telegram directing 
him to take the train for New York which 
left the station at the Mills, five miles from 
the beach, at eight in the evening. The 
telegram was delivered by an old man, who 
usually brought supplies to the villagers 
from the store at the cross-roads. 

Alexis closed the laboratory, after in- 
structing Timmy to listen to signals at the 
hour appointed by Brown, and walked to 
196 


TELEGRAM AND MESSAGE 
the station. A storm had been threatening 
since the morning, and as the night closed 
in the wind increased to a gale, shaking 
the doors and windows of the old man- 
sion, — notes of discordance and clangor 
mingling with the deep roar of the surf; 
the overture of the storm. 

As Alexis walked inland, the wail of 
the wind drowned the noise of the sea. 
The moon was occasionally disclosed by 
breaks in the scudding clouds; but only for 
an instant, as dragon-like masses of black 
mist flew over the breaks, showing un- 
couth and gigantic heads and claws, and 
shutting out all light by their advancing 
bodies. He was glad to gain the shelter 
of the trees beyond the wide expanse of 
marsh, and paused a moment for breath 
after his struggle with the gale. As he 
advanced along the road which led to the 
Mills he met no one. Apparently the dwell- 
ers in the solitary houses he passed had 
given up any plans they had formed of ven- 
197 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
turing out, and had shut themselves in for 
fear of the stormy night. An occasional 
dog sniffed at Alexis’s heels, shook off the 
raindrops, and having satisfied his con- 
science of surveillance ran back, with hair 
blown up in a tousle, to his kennel. 

When Alexis had reached the more open 
road which led to the station, two men, one 
holding a lantern, came from behind a tree. 
Alexis, with a shudder, suddenly paused; 
for he recognized the two spies. 

Bushy made a ceremonious bow, and 
said, “Mr. Alexis Orloff, I believe. You 
are just in time for the train.” 

Alexis scornfully looked the man up and 
down, and went on. 

Bare stepped to his side, endeavoring to 
light a cigarette as he walked, while Bushy 
plodded on closely behind. 

Alexis stopped, and with a wave of his 
hand motioned to the men to proceed, say- 
ing, “I have no need of your company, 
sirs.” 


198 


TELEGRAM AND MESSAGE 


“Yes,” replied Bushy, “but we have 
need of yours.” 

“ This is a free country and not Russia,” 
retorted Alexis. “ Go your way ! ” 

“You are wanted by the Russian au- 
thorities,” said Bare. “We have the neces- 
sary papers, young man.” 

Alexis thought over his situation intently, 
as, cowering before the driving rain, they 
entered the station. He could notify Brown 
by sending a telegram from the train, which 
was rapidly approaching. The great engine 
came to a stop, panting heavily, after its 
breasting the gale. The two or three per- 
sons beside Alexis and his pursuers hastily 
boarded the train. The conductor swung 
his lantern, and the locomotive began again 
its contest with the wind. 

Alexis moved away from Bushy and 
Bare, and took a seat beside a man, who 
somewhat reluctantly drew in his legs, 
having been aroused from sleep. The two 
spies, secure of their prey, seated themselves 
199 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


near Alexis, and when the conductor ap- 
peared, paid the boy’s fare. Alexis asked 
for a telegraph blank. Bushy smiled and 
whispered to Bare, who tossed up his chin 
as if assenting. They evidently regarded 
the request as a good joke. 

When Alexis received the blank he pon- 
dered deeply. 

Was it clear that he was being carried 
to New York? The smiles of his two com- 
panions indicated that they felt sure of their 
plans, and perhaps they intended to stop at 
some intermediate station. In that case his 
telegram would not help him. While he 
thought his eyes ranged over the occu- 
pants of the car, to see where he could 
appeal for help. A woman with a careworn 
face was putting a cap on the head of a 
little boy, as if preparing to leave the train. 
Some young women were sticking pins 
through their hats and hair. Old gentle- 
men stood up and patted their pockets, as 
if making sure that the contents were safe; 


200 


TELEGRAM AND MESSAGE 
and a venerable lady stopped the brakeman, 
who was hurrying through the car, to ask if 
the train was on time. There was no one 
who seemed likely to be of assistance. Bushy 
was standing in the aisle, and evidently say- 
ing to Bare, You stay here while I go into 
the next car to smoke a cigarette.” 

Alexis’s glance took but a second, yet 
the pondering over the difficulty in his mind 
seemed to take minutes. As he turned his 
eyes from the occupants of the car to the 
dark whirling landscape, the lights of a 
hamlet near the track seemed to fly in all 
directions, as if the hamlet had suddenly 
exploded, and the car stopped with a crash 
and a fearful grinding noise. The lights 
were extinguished, and cries and shrieks 
arose. Alexis 'yv’as thrown from his seat 
and stunned for a moment; recovering his 
senses, he extricated his legs from frag- 
ments of the seat and from a heavy burden, 
which might have been the body of the 
man who occupied the seat with him, and 


201 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
forced himself through a shattered win- 
dow. People, half dazed, were staggering 
up and down beside the wreck, which had 
taken fire. Train-hands also ran up and 
down, waving lanterns and shouting orders. 

Alexis endeavored to help those who 
were pinned in the mass of wreckage. He 
heard one of the train-hands stutter forth, 
for his lips were almost paralyzed with 
terror: “We must send for doctors and 
help; but there is no one who can telegraph 
at the station just beyond us. The operator 
has joined the strikers. This accident is 
due to his neglect of his work.” 

“ / can telegraph,” said Alexis, running 
beside the man. 

“ Come on, then ! ” replied the man, hurry- 
ing on. 

The way was lighted by the burning cars 
behind, and the shadows of the two hasten- 
ing on seemed demons of the conflagration, 
conscience-stricken, peering over the shoul- 
ders of the running men, and anxious to 


202 


TELEGRAM AND MESSAGE 


make amends by aiding in the endeavor to 
get help. 

On reaching the station Alexis elbowed 
his way through the crowd that had begun 
to collect from the neighboring houses, and 
unmindful of their frantic questions, followed 
the train-hand into the office where the tele- 
graph instruments were kept. His com- 
panion dictated messages, which Alexis 
rapidly sent, and translated the replies. 

When the most urgent messages had 
been transmitted, the man hurried back 
to the scene of the disaster, leaving Alexis 
to attend to the messages of those who had 
escaped from the collision. He began to 
feel overcome by the shock and the press 
of work forced upon him, and knowing 
that help was coming, struggled out of the 
close air of the office, made closer by the 
throng of passengers. As he stepped upon 
the platform he saw the woman who had 
been fitting the cap to the head of her lit- 
tle boy. She was holding the cap in her 
203 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
hands, and entreating a rapidly passing 
brakeman to find her child. At the same 
instant a man with one shoe caught him by 
the arm, and asked him if he had seen his 
running mate. The train-hand uttered a 
muttered imprecation and dashed down the 
track. 

Alexis, urged on by an almost demoniacal 
feeling, peered into the faces of the victims 
who were borne up the track by stagger- 
ing brakemen, to see if those of Bushy and 
Bare were among them. He crept along the 
rough walk beside the rails to the burning 
cars. The flames had got beyond the con- 
trol of the fighters, who were still pouring 
buckets of water on them, but they hissed 
at the ineffectual attempt. 

‘^There’s no help for those pinned in 
the wreck,” said a looker-on, fanning his 
hot face with his hat. 

Bushy and Bare had not escaped, and 
the solution of Alexis’s difficulty in regard 
to the telegram had been reached. Feeling 
204 


TELEGRAM AND MESSAGE 
that a heav}^ burden had been lifted from 
his heart, he hurried back to the station, 
with the intention of sending a telegram to 
Brown; but as he ran he thought: “Why 
should I telegraph? Mr. Brown does not 
know that I have been in the accident; the 
telegram I received was probably sent by 
these two men who have perished.” He 
remembered that he had promised to listen 
at midnight for Brown’s wireless messages, 
in order to test the latter’s great invention. 
Now that he was convinced that the tele- 
gram he received was a decoy message, 
he was anxious to get back as speedily as 
possible to Long Beach. 

Overtaking a man who was also hasten- 
ing away from the wreck, Alexis asked 
how far they were from Long Beach. The 
man answered that it was five miles to the 
cross-roads, and that he was about to drive 
there, and would be glad to have company. 
In times of such great calamities taciturn 
men become voluble, and Alexis’s com- 
205 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
panion was glad to have a human being 
beside him on his lonely drive. He was 
hurrying on to tell Widow Jones that her 
son, who was a brakeman on the train, 
was uninjured. As the old horse plashed 
along the road, for the rain was descend- 
ing in torrents, the driver discussed the 
cause of the accident, ending his various 
exclamations with the remark, ‘^Somebody 
guessed it was all right, and I guess they 
found out that they were mistaken.” 


CHAPTER XIV 


THE LAST WIRELESS MESSAGE 

When they reached the cross-roads Alexis 
dismounted, thanked the old farmer, and 
set out for the beach. The storm was at its 
height, and as he emerged from the shelter 
of the trees the wind buffeted him and blew 
him back into the copses. Waiting for a 
lull he forged on, with the feeling that the 
winds might do their worst; they were 
kind and fought in the open, unlike the 
secret enemies of his father and himself 
who had so stealthily pursued him across 
the ocean. Soon he heard the pounding of 
the surf, and passing the upturned automo- 
bile, entered the avenue which led to the 
mansion. 

There was no light to be seen, and reach- 
ing the front door he applied the knocker, 
standing in a recess to avoid the rain. 

207 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


There was no response; he knocked more 
loudly, and listened intently for Timmy’s 
footsteps in the hallway. The wind seemed 
to laugh and to imitate his knocking by 
shaking a loose blind. He passed around 
the house to the laboratory and tried its 
door. It was locked. He then endeavored 
to pry open a window. While he was thus 
occupied Timmy was sitting up in bed, 
irresolute, filled with terror, having heard 
the knocker. He had invited Josephus to 
spend the night with him, for he feared that 
the two men who had been ridden out of 
the village might return to wreak ven- 
geance. He heard footsteps crunching about 
the house and the noise of the attempt 
to open the window; hesitating no longer, 
he quickly made his way to the room of 
Josephus, and feeling the form of the latter 
in bed, with a sudden impulse of protection 
he whispered in the ear of his sleeping 
friend, ‘‘Josephus!” 

The latter also had heard the knocker and 
208 


THE LAST WIRELESS MESSAGE 

the footsteps, and pretended to be asleep, 
snoring loudly. 

Timmy shook him by the shoulders, 
saying in a hoarse whisper, “Wake up! 
There ’s robbers trying to get in 1 ” 

Josephus yawned, feeling it impossible 
to counterfeit sleep any longer, and replied, 
all of a shiver, “ It ’s the storm, Timmy. 
Hear it roar in the chimney. There ’s a 
blind loose.” 

“ I tell ye it ’s burglars. Hear that scrap- 
ing and prying; they are trying to open a 
window.” 

“ It ’s the branches of the trees swoop- 
ing agin the clapboards,” insisted Josephus. 
“ But if it would ease your mind, fire your 
pistol out of the window.” 

Timmy crept back to his room, and se- 
curing his weapon opened a window and 
fired a shot, which was echoed by a re- 
sounding slam of the blind. The smell of 
the powder aroused the martial spirit in 
Josephus, and impelled hirn to share the 
209 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


perils of the night with his old comrade; 
moreover, the darkness and solitude of his 
room were too much for his nerves, and he 
crept after Timmy. The two listened in- 
tently. They heard a halloo, and shivered 
together. 

‘‘ It was the wind,’’ stuttered Josephus. 

Halloo! ” resounded again. 

‘‘ They want us to open the door,” whis- 
pered Timmy. It ’s an old game, to pre- 
tend to have a telegram. They ’d bind us, 
and go through the house; put hot coals 
to our feet. We had better keep shady.” 

The two doubly locked the chamber door 
and bundled into bed. 

Alexis in the tumult of the storm had 
not distinguished the shot from the noise of 
the swinging shutters, and succeeded finally 
in gaining an entrance into the laboratory. 
Lighting a candle, he put the receiving ap- 
paratus in adjustment according to Brown’s 
instructions. It was approaching the hour 
of midnight, and he sat intently listening, 


210 


THE LAST WIRELESS MESSAGE 
knowing that the storm could have no 
effect upon whatever message Brown might 
send. As he listened intently, he wondered 
if it would be possible some day to com- 
mune with absent ones by putting one’s 
mind in tune. To have such a communion 
with his father on this night would indeed 
be a joy; for he could tell him that his 
enemies would trouble him no more, — 
Bushy and Bare had been swept into ob- 
livion. While this thought filled his mind, 
he heard a ticking in the receiver. He 
quickly tuned the circuit so that it might 
respond more loudly, and then he spelled 
out the words, Steamer on sand-bar. 
Notify life-saving station.” He seized his 
cap, extinguished the lights, and rushed out 
into the storm. 

The men of the life station had been on 
the watch for some unfortunate vessel dur- 
ing the entire afternoon and evening; but 
the hours had worn away without the 
sound of a cannon or the flash of a rocket 


2II 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


denoting distress. The noise, however, of 
the surf and the direction of the wind 
would have made it impossible to hear 
even the sound of a cannon, and the driv- 
ing mist would have concealed the light of 
a rocket. The men had gathered in the 
room which held their boats, and having 
listened to the report of one of their num- 
ber who had ventured out to see and listen, 
and who had reentered with a rush, as if 
some demon of the storm was pursuing 
him, had settled down for a game of cards. 

‘Ht ’s a bad night for the ship that strikes 
the sand-bar,” said the grizzled leader, as he 
shuffled the cards, looking over his specta- 
cles at the man who entered. 

As I came in,” said the latter, mopping 
the rain from his beard, I heard strange 
cries in the air.” 

^^Did you see any lights?” asked the 
captain. “Ears are no good on a night 
like this, — the hissing wind like bumble- 
bees in ’em. The pounding of the surf beats 


212 


THE LAST WIRELESS MESSAGE 

the noise of our town cannon on the Fourth 
of July.’’ 

“ I saw nothing except — ” He looked 
from face to face of the closely huddled 
group with an expression in his eyes like 
that of Macbeth at the banquet. 

The men knew that their companion 
was prone to see ghosts on stormy nights, 
and they cast furtive looks at one another 
under the brims of their sou’westers as they 
shuffled their cards. Suddenly they heard 
a tremendous pounding on the door. A 
little dog which was sleeping in front of 
the stove jumped into a seaman’s bunk in 
a fit of terror, lifted a trembling paw, and 
peered out from its haven of safety. The 
captain’s lips moved convulsively a mo- 
ment before he could utter the words, Who 
is there ? ” 

‘‘ There ’s a steamer on the sand-bar ! ” 
shouted a voice. 

The man nearest the door drew the bolt, 
and Alexis was blown into the room by a 
213 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 
blast which extinguished the lights. The 
sailor’s ghost had evidently arrived. 

When the lamps were relit, the men 
recognized Brown’s wireless telegraph 
boy. 

‘^There’s a steamer on the bar!” re- 
peated Alexis. I have just received a 
wireless message from her.” 

The men threw down their cards and 
stood up. A supreme moment in their lives 
had come. The rough, inert exteriors were 
about to blossom like the night-blooming 
cereus. The captain told off the crew, and 
without hesitation the lifeboat was made 
ready. 

At the word of command the doors 
were thrown open, and the boat was pushed 
along rollers to the edge of the surf. It 
did not seem possible that it could live in 
such a sea. The crew stood ready to float it 
when the waves turned back from their on- 
slaught upon the beach. In a moment they 
tumbled in, seized their oars, and helped 
214 


THE LAST WIRELESS MESSAGE 
by the pushing of those who were left in 
charge of the station, dashed the oars into 
the water, and mounted the crest of a great 
wave which threatened to throw the boat 
back upon the beach, while the wave, dis- 
appointed of its prey, showed a line of white 
like the teeth of a savage animal, bit the 
sands, and ran back as if in pursuit. 

Alexis stood with the men left behind 
in a recess of the station, protected from 
the wind. They strained their eyes to see 
the progress of the lifeboat. It had faded 
quickly out of sight after mounting the 
wave and showing every thwart against 
which the oarsmen’s feet had been rigidly 
pressed. The minutes seemed hours as the 
cowering men at the station waited and 
listened. Nobody spoke. One man lighted 
his pipe, and the wind threw the sparks of 
the lighted tobacco into the gloom and the 
rain drenched the pipe. 

There she is!” suddenly exclaimed 
one of the group. 


215 


A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


‘‘ Where ? ’’ asked the others. 

The eager man drew them to him, and 
pointed over their shoulders. 

“ That ’s only the breaking of a wave,’^ 
said one. 

The white streak faded into the black 
mass of waters, and the observer let his arm 
fall to his side. The wind seemed to laugh 
in derision at the success of the appearance 
of the ghost it had evoked, and the men 
turned their backs to its gusts to regain 
their breaths. They started as they saw 
what seemed a wraith sweep by, and shiv- 
ered at the sound of crashing glass. A 
swiftly flying flock of ducks had been at- 
tracted by the lights of the station, and had 
dashed themselves against the window. 

Alexis swept his eyes over the dark ex- 
panse of the sea, which had no line of sepa- 
ration from the sky, and was distinguish- 
able from the beach only by the line of 
foam. The tossing lifeboat had shown for 
an instant the convulsions of the ocean ; 

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THE LAST WIRELESS MESSAGE 
but now there was nothing to measure 
their magnitude except the roar of the 
fall of water as the breakers broke on the 
beach. He, too, was often ready to shout. 
There ! There ! ” when a streak of foam 
appeared on the blackness; but the streaks, 
like that seen by the coastman, faded into 
nothingness. The vdsh to see the return 
of the boat made these streaks of foam 
strangely like it: one could imagine that 
he saw oars rise and fall. 

Some of these streaks were more per- 
sistent than others. None of the watchers 
would risk his reputation in proclaiming 
that one of those which disappeared in a 
great trough of the sea and came into view 
again nearer and nearer was the lifeboat; 
but one man crept into the station, and 
bringing out a Roman candle, lighted it. 
Then, as if by a common impulse, a hoarse 
shout went up, and all rushed to the edge 
of the water, waded into the line of foam, 
and caught the lifeboat as it swept in on 
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A WIRELESS TELEGRAPH BOY 


the breast of a wave, in order to prevent 
its being drawn back by the undertow. 

Alexis counted the men in the boat. The 
crew were all there; besides, there were 
two strangers, one a man of large figure, and 
another crouching at his feet. The great 
figure, with face indistinguishable in the 
gloom, sat high above the rowers, as they 
bent for a last effort at their oars. The 
scene was like one from an opera repre- 
senting the landing of a viking, while the 
orchestra of the storm played a great 
strain; the successive falling of the break- 
ers representing the beating of the drums, 
the hissing and wail of the wind the vio- 
lins. 

A loud shout of triumph sounded as 
the boat was drawn out of the reach of the 
waves, and the tall figure stepped on the 
sands. A man held up a lantern, and Alexis 
with a bound clasped the figure around the 
waist, crying, Father!” 

The count seemed to be in a daze, like 
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THE LAST WIRELESS MESSAGE 


a man landing after the turmoil of life on 
the shore of a new planet. He staggered, 
and with an ecstatic look gazed into the 
face of his son, muttered, Alexandra ! ’’ 
and fell in a swoon. 


Biteri^ibe pve!S0 

CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS 


U . S . A 



r.F 21 





